Numachi No Kyuketsuki
by Bill K
Summary: Called in to investigate a missing student, Uranus and Neptune encounter a legend of a mythological monster that may be preying on the living.
1. The Phone Call

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 1: "The Phone Call"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2020 by Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission, but with respect. Story is (c)2020 by Bill K.

* * *

It had been a long day. The charter helicopter business that Haruka Tenoh now ran had proven quite successful, if a bit ordinary. It made money, though not as much as being a champion Formula 1 driver had. But ninety-nine percent of the runs Haruka made were to ferry businessmen to and from the airport and their corporate towers. Occasionally there was a scientific expedition or a job carrying a famous idol, but they were few and far between. Haruka worked just as hard as when she was a race car driver, but didn't seem to get as much satisfaction from it.

"Can't be helped," Haruka sighed to herself. "You can't go back to the circuit. You're too old." She smirked to herself. "And Michiru would probably kill me."

And it was a steady income, that and the personal appearances she put in at auto shows or dealerships. Michiru made more annually, but her income was erratic, dependent upon sales of paintings or photographs, or residuals from her picture book collections or albums. Some months, when Michiru was in a creative funk and not producing, Haruka's was the only income they had. Haruka closed the door behind her and paused in the hallway to doff her shoes. Thank the gods that the house was paid for.

Not finding Michiru in the kitchen or the living room, Haruka next looked in the den that was her mate's unofficial studio. There she found Michiru furiously working at a canvas. Haruka recognized the mood. Michiru was inspired and was working as quickly as she could to get as much of the inspiration as she could on canvas before the mood cooled. Not speaking so as not to distract her, Haruka looked at the painting. It was a portrait of a couple, the man older and clearly rich, the woman not as old but still distinguished. Ordinary enough except for the background. They stood in front of a fifteenth century feudal castle, at night with the darkness muting colors and casting ominous shadows. The couple had on feudal era kimonos and hair styles.

"How was your day, Haruka?" Michiru asked distantly.

"Same old same old," the sandy blonde replied. "Makes me almost miss Yakushima sometimes."

Michiru responded only with a tired sigh.

"Well, I could have said the time I flew that girl group to Budokon," Haruka smirked, "but then you would have hit me."

"I would not have hit you," Michiru replied, a small smile crossing her lips as she concentrated on the painting.

"That's a strange painting," Haruka remarked, diving into the refrigerator and coming up with a can of beer.

"It's a commission," Michiru told her as she kept painting. "Hayato Onazuki commissioned me to paint him and his wife in a feudal setting. I suppose he thinks it will make him look historically important, or give his friends something to chat about."

"How much?"

"Five hundred thousand," Michiru responded. "Initially I didn't want to do it, but when I saw the photo of him and his wife, I got inspired."

"Five hundred thousand would be enough to inspire me," Haruka observed as she took a sip. "It's kind of dark looking, though."

"This is my vision," Michiru said. Haruka knew that tone. Michiru was an artist who would stay true to her "vision" of how a work would look. If no one else accepted it, that was their loss.

"Well, you're a name artist. Maybe you can still sell it."

"Could you get dinner, please?" Michiru asked in a controlled tone with narrow eyes. "I'm a little occupied."

"I could get take out," offered Haruka. "The way I cook, you'd probably prefer take out."

"That's fine," her mate replied, distantly again. Haruka knew that she'd distracted Michiru long enough and that her mate needed to concentrate on her work again. It was OK. It gave Haruka another chance to take her prized Lamborghini Reventon for a spin.

And relive, briefly, the thrill of operating a finely tuned machine again on a track, even if the track was Tokyo city streets and she had to obey the speed limits.

Later that evening, Haruka and Michiru sat at a table and ate take out curry. Haruka had been prepared to feed Michiru as she painted, something the woman had done in the past, but her mate had come to a comfortable stopping point and was able to join Haruka at the table.

"Did you read the briefing Endymion sent out about his latest round of tax reforms?" Michiru asked in between bites.

"Nah, that stuff always puts me to sleep," sighed Haruka. "Are our taxes going up or down?"

"Well, down," Michiru replied, then smiled, "until I got this commission."

"Ah, it's OK. If I have to give my money to someone, at least I know Endymion and Dumpling will use it to do something good."

"Oh!" gasped Michiru. "This curry certainly is spicy!"

"I like spicy," smirked Haruka. "That's one of the reasons I fell for you."

"Really?" Michiru grinned. "That's a lot to live up to."

"And yet you handle it with so much grace and confidence," Haruka told her.

"I think someone's angling for an erotic night," Michiru said, giving her a cynical leer.

"Didn't sound like a 'no'," Haruka replied and spooned up some curry.

"Heard from Junko recently?" Michiru asked, changing the subject.

"Not for a couple of weeks," Haruka sighed. "I think she's in finals. That'll keep anyone busy."

"I can just imagine what you're going to look like at the graduation ceremony. Bursting with pride," and then Michiru smiled wickedly, "and blubbering like a baby."

"You've never seen me cry," Haruka smirked. "But you're right, I'll be proud enough to burst. 'Junko Tenoh, math teacher'; has a ring to it. It's so - - exhilarating to see her not only get a chance that I never got, but to run with it and make something of herself."

"Seeing you like this makes me wonder what it would have been like to have a sibling," Michiru confessed.

After dinner, Michiru immediately went back to her painting, so Haruka did the dishes. She was drying her hands, and grateful that they'd had take out and there were no pots to clean, when her cell phone went off. Pulling it out of the pocket of her jeans, Haruka looked and instantly recognized the number calling.

"Junko!" Haruka said happily into the phone. "We were just talking about you. How are things?"

"Haruka," Junko said and instantly Haruka picked up on the distress in her voice, "can you come out here - - to Niigata?"

"What's wrong?"

Junko hesitated. "There's this girl in my class. We're sharing an apartment - - and she never came home. She's disappeared all of a sudden and nobody knows what happened to her. And it's really got a lot of people worried."

"Uh huh," Haruka responded. "I'm assuming that she's not the type who would just run off and shack up with her boyfriend, right?"

"Not Kasumi. She wasn't even going with anybody."

"She didn't go home?"

"Her parents haven't seen her."

"Sounds like a police matter."

"Her parents talked to the police. They're looking in to it." Junko hesitated. "But I was kind of hoping you could look into it - - given who you are."

"You think something bad's happened?" Haruka asked.

"Call me crazy, but I just have a bad feeling."

"I'll be there tonight."

"Tonight? You're not driving, are you?" Junko asked.

"It's just three hours to Niigata."

"But it's night," Junko replied, "and you're probably tired . . ."

"You're going to insult my driving?" Haruka asked. "You?"

"I don't mean it that way. It's just . . ." Junko responded, then huffed. "Fine, come on. You know where my apartment is."

"See you in three," Haruka said and ended the call. When she looked up, Michiru was in the doorway.

"The bullet train would be quicker," Michiru said.

"And then how am I going to get around Niigata? Uber?"

"Point taken. Just let me get my purse," Michiru said.

"You going with me?"

"Two Senshi are better than one," Michiru smiled. "Besides, I love Niigata before the humidity sets in."

As Michiru went to retrieve her purse, Haruka marveled once more at how that woman always seemed to know what was best. She headed for the door and Michiru met her there.

"What about your painting?" Haruka asked.

"It'll keep," Michiru replied. "Junko is far more important."

* * *

Off campus from Niigata University was unusually quiet for the time of night. There were still sounds of youths drinking and partying, but not as much as was regular. With the end of term looming, a good portion of the students who lived in the area were either studying or preparing to move. Haruka's Reventon eased down the street and slid into the parking lot behind the apartment building that housed Junko and other students. Michiru got out and headed for the building, then stopped and looked back when she noticed Haruka wasn't with her. Haruka had pulled a canvas tarp out of the trunk and was placing it over the Reventon. Her amused look caught Haruka's eye.

"All I need is for some drunken student to bounce a beer can off of her," Haruka protested, "or worse, decide they want to take her for a spin."

"I told you to take the bullet train," Michiru responded.

"You told me to stop touching you there, too," Haruka leered as she approached, "but you sure changed your mind quick."

"You brag too much," Michiru countered. They walked hand in hand to the apartment building.

"Haruka! Come in," Junko exclaimed as she opened the door warily. "Michiru," she nodded.

The apartment was small, a one room flat with a kitchen and bath. Two beds were at the window, their footboards together, and two desks sat by the headboards. There was a sofa, a television and a table and not much else.

"OK, was there anything about this that you didn't tell me over the phone?" Haruka asked. Michiru studied the girl as Haruka spoke. Junko was still the mirror image of what Haruka had looked like fifteen years ago, save that she wore her sandy blonde hair long and thick.

"Um," Junko began. "I don't really remember what I told you. Kasumi didn't come home after her part time job. She works at the Chinese restaurant west of campus, as a counter person. That was two nights ago."

"And when did you talk to the police?" Michiru asked.

"Yesterday morning," Junko replied. "When Kasumi didn't come home, I called her parents. Then they called the police. They came over and questioned me." Junko slumped and leaned against the back of the sofa. "After the second night, I figured I should call you. Haruka, it was torture waiting all day to call, but I knew you worked and I didn't want to interrupt that."

"It's OK," Haruka nodded. "This Kasumi didn't have a boyfriend, you said. Do you know if she got into a fight recently with someone? A friend?"

"I'm about her only friend," Junko grimaced. "Kasumi is really timid. I mean, she gets along with some of the other girls in the classes, but I guess I'm the only real friend she has."

"OK, did she get into a fight with you?"

"What?"

"Did you get into an argument with her?" Haruka persisted. "Maybe about rent or TV time, who's cooking? And just how close are you two?"

"No, we never fought. Kasumi's not like that," Junko shook her head, then bristled. "And we're just roommates! It's nothing like that, Haruka! Honestly, sometimes Dad is right about you!"

"I'm just eliminating possibilities," Haruka said stiffly. "So if Kasumi was mad about something, she wouldn't just run off?"

"No," frowned Junko. "If something bugged her, she would go silent - - withdraw to her own side of the apartment. Finally I'd get so bugged that I'd confront her and drag it out of her. Then we could solve it. But I've never known her to run away."

"Was she afraid of anybody?" Michiru asked. Junko looked at her, surprised by the question. "You said she wasn't seeing anyone. Was someone perhaps interested in her and she didn't reciprocate? Or someone held a grudge against her for something?"

"Not that I know of," Junko shook her head. "Kasumi didn't say anything. Of course, knowing Kasumi, she might not have said anything. But I don't know of anything like that."

"Then what is it you do know?" Michiru said.

Junko's head reared up and she stared in shock at Michiru. The green-haired artist stood and stared, not backing down from her question and using a gaze that said she might already know what Junko was thinking. Haruka was surprised by the question, too, but hung back and let Michiru proceed. They were a team and knew each other's ways as well as they knew their own.

"Please don't hold back, Junko," Michiru persisted. "You called us in, so we have to know everything if we're going to succeed. Whatever you're holding back could be important to finding Kasumi."

"You're going to laugh," Junko sighed. "OK, there's this - - local legend. All the older residents of the area talk about it, but the students mostly treat it as a joke." Junko swallowed. "But I've seen things, being Haruka's sister. I know it could be real. And if it got Kasumi . . ."

"What is it?" Michiru prodded.

"It goes by the name of Numachi No Kyuketsuki - - the Marsh Vampire," Junko admitted. "It's supposed to prowl the marshlands west of campus, above the docks. The legend has been around Niigata for hundreds of years."

"Have there been any actual instances of people falling victim to this legend?" Michiru asked.

"Officially? No. But every time someone or something vanishes, the locals begin muttering about it. There was a case two years ago where some woman who worked at a grocery store near here disappeared. Everyone thought it was Numachi No Kyuketsuki," Junko related, "until they found her in Okinawa shacked up with her lover." Junko became animated. "The police aren't even looking into the possibility! I guess I don't expect them to, but - - if forty foot ice giants can be real, so can marsh vampires! And if it is real, and if it does have Kasumi . . .!"

"Yeah, I see what you mean," nodded Haruka. "That's definitely something Michiru and I would be more qualified to look into." She glanced at Michiru.

"I'll transform," Michiru nodded. "Neptune Planet Power Make Up!"

Moments later, Sailor Neptune stood where Michiru had before. Haruka noticed Junko staring.

"I will NEVER get used to that!" Junko grinned.

"Do you have a picture of Kasumi?" Neptune asked. "Preferably recent?"

"Uhh," Junko began, then went over to a closet. From the top shelf she produced a book. "It's our yearbook from last year. Kasumi wasn't one for having photos of herself. She never thought it was necessary - - and she didn't like the way she looked."

"Obviously she was wrong about it being necessary," Neptune replied. "You should consider having photos of yourself taken, too." She took the book, turned to the proper page. "Oh, I don't know why she would think she was unattractive. She's very nice now, and with a little attention I think she could look even better."

"Well, that was Kasumi," sighed Junko.

Neptune sat on the sofa, the yearbook on her lap. Summoning the Deep Aqua Mirror, Neptune passed her hand over the glass and stared.

"She's searching for Kasumi, using the mirror," Junko asked Haruka, "isn't she?"

"How do you know about that?" Haruka asked.

"I probably know everything there is to know about you two," Junko grinned, "that's public, anyway. And a few things that aren't public."

"Yeah, that's what she's doing," Haruka told her. "Don't worry, we'll find her."

"I'm not worried about that," Junko admitted. "I'm worried about you finding her in time. If somebody's got her, they may have already . . ."

"Try to stay positive, huh?" Haruka advised her.

"It's not like I want it to happen," Junko scowled. "But I know what kind of world we live in. I know that women sometimes have targets on their backs - - just for being women. It's not like it is for you and Michiru. We can't change into Sailor Senshi and help ourselves."

"I know what it's like," Haruka told her. "I've got a target on my back. It's just a bigger target because of who I am and what I do."

"She's alive," Neptune said distantly. Junko and Haruka crowded around her.

"Where is she?" Junko gasped.

"I can't see that," Neptune answered. "It's some place very dark." Then she sighed and came out of her trance. The mirror dropped onto the open yearbook.

"How'd she look?" Haruka asked.

"Disheveled," Neptune replied. "She didn't go without resisting and it shows. And she's very scared. But she's alive and in one piece, so that's a plus." Neptune let her transformation fade. "We should get some sleep. We can attack this problem fresh in the morning."

"Why can't we do it now?" howled Junko. "Somebody has Kasumi! She could be dead by morning!"

"If who or whatever is holding Kasumi hasn't killed her after two days, it's unlikely it will happen over night. I know you want to find her, Junko. Have patience."

Junko scowled. Patience was one think she had never possessed in large quantities.

Continued in Chapter 2


	2. Inquiry

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 2: "Inquiry"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Before breakfast, Haruka engaged in her ritual morning run. Michiru approved, promising a hearty breakfast when her mate returned. Junko was still asleep. The run had a dual purpose: It allowed Haruka to keep to her conditioning regime, but it also allowed her the opportunity to scope out the neighborhood around the apartment building and around the Chinese restaurant where the missing Kasumi worked.

The area around the apartment building was a dense grouping of structures, mostly residential apartments that catered to the student population of Niigata University. There were a few other souls out and about, either running as she was or headed to work. Also among the area were restaurants, clothing stores, a book store and a laundry. Given the hours of students, it seemed like a risky place for a person to try to abduct someone. But Haruka knew it could happen, particularly to a student more concerned with their next paper or their next beer purchase than with their surroundings.

The west end of campus was elevated from the marshy lowlands near the coast. Fenced off from campus, the marshland was in a natural state and very overgrown with trees and bushes. There was an observation point on her side of the fence, then a paved street. On the other side were houses. Down the block were some more shops. Nestled in among the shops was the Chinese restaurant. Haruka judged it to be half a block down from the street. Since the bus didn't run down the street bordering the marsh, it wasn't likely Kasumi had come that way.

Unless she was lured - - or dragged.

"Looking for an address?" a man asked.

Haruka turned to him. He was Japanese, in his fifties, age rounding his figure. The man had a broom and a pail of water and was cleaning the sidewalk in front of one of the residences. His black frame glasses magnified his eyes and he gave Haruka a benign smile.

"No, just taking in the scenery," Haruka replied.

"I don't recall seeing you around here before," the man observed. "Are you moving into the neighborhood?"

"No, just up visiting. I have a sister who goes to the university. I'm just getting in my running. Got to keep it up or you get flabby."

"Oh, I'm well aware of that," he smiled and patted his stomach. "What's she studying?"

"She's going to be a math teacher," Haruka volunteered. "Nice little community you've got here. Looks so clean and safe; probably be a good spot to do some running at night."

"Oh, I wouldn't advise that," the man told her calmly, but seriously.

"Why not?"

"Numachi No Kyuketsuki," he remarked. "That's why that stretch of land over there has never been developed. Every time someone tries, something mysterious happens. Eventually they decide it's too much trouble and move on."

"Come on," frowned Haruka. "It's the twenty-first century . . ."

"That's what everyone thinks," the man said. "All of the younger people scoff. Then somebody disappears."

"You've seen it?"

"No, thank the gods. But I've lived in this neighborhood for thirty years. It doesn't happen often, but it happens. And why tempt fate?"

"So who disappeared?" Haruka asked.

"Oh, I don't know," the man replied. "It happens every so often. I don't know them. Being a college neighborhood, you get a lot of people who come and go. Every so often one of them disappears. The police come, they look around. Sometimes they say the person just up and left, with no reason. After all, they're kids - - they don't always need a reason. Sometimes the police don't have an explanation. But that's because they don't want to believe the obvious reason."

"That being Numachi No Kyuketsuki," Haruka said.

"There are things that are real because we believe them to be real," he smiled. "And then there are things that are real even though we don't believe them to be real." He glanced at his watch. "I have to get breakfast started. It was nice meeting you. Tell your sister to study hard. And tell her she's lucky to have a brother like you."

"Yeah, I will," Haruka nodded and resumed her running, intentionally refraining from correcting the man. As she ran, she glanced over her right shoulder at the marsh beyond the chain link fence.

When Haruka returned, she was greeted with a kiss from Michiru and a playful admonishment to shower. Junko was already eating and added to the chorus, charging that Haruka was stinking up her apartment. After the shower, Haruka returned to find Junko finished, but Michiru waiting along with a sumptuous breakfast.

"So, find out anything?" Junko asked. Haruka gave her an inquiring look. "That's why you went out, wasn't it?"

"You know me. I always go running in the morning," Haruka said. Junko glared impatiently. "And if I just happened to run by west campus, it's one of those happy coincidences, you know."

"What did you find out!" Junko demanded.

"That there's a marsh west of campus where someone could hide out in for a decade and never be found," Haruka reported, glancing at Michiru, "if he was crazy enough to try. Thick foliage and lots of cover, but swampy. It would be tough navigating that unless you grew up in it."

"Anything on Numachi No Kyuketsuki?" Michiru asked, almost smiling when she spoke.

"I got an earful from a local who believes it. He didn't seem frightened or worried, but he respects the legend. Sort of like someone who lives by the edge of a forest and knows there's bears out there, but doesn't let it rule his life."

"Look, I know you don't take this marsh vampire thing seriously . . ." Junko bristled.

"On the contrary," Michiru admonished. "I don't rule out anything until I have reason to rule it out. That's why while Haruka was out running, I was on the Senshi Communicator to Rei Hino in Tokyo."

"She heard of it?" Haruka asked.

"Heard of it, but wasn't familiar with specifics," Michiru replied. "She knew there had been a few unexplained incidents out here over the years, but there was nothing that couldn't be explained by less supernatural circumstances. Rei did give me some possibilities as to what could have spawned the legend. She talked about a Chinese legend that probably made its way over to Niigata since it's a western port city and close to China: The Jiangshi is an animated corpse who loses its binding sutra and goes around attacking the living and sucking out their life forces."

"Ew!" scowled Junko.

"She also mentioned a Nure-onna," Michiru continued. "That's a creature with the head of a beautiful woman and the body of a snake. It attacks humans, traps them in its coils and sucks out their blood. Rei said it's a creature known to lurk near large bodies of water."

"And one of these things might have Kasumi?" gasped Junko.

"Or she could be the victim of a regular, non-supernatural human being who saw her as a target of opportunity," cautioned Haruka. "In fact that's the more likely culprit. So after I finish breakfast, I think I'll head over to the police station and find out what they've come up with."

"I'm going, too!" proclaimed Junko.

"No, you're not," Haruka replied.

"Haruka!"

"You've got classes to attend, studying to do and tests to take," Haruka told her with as much finality as she could muster. "I can handle this. Your job is to pass, graduate and make me proud."

Junko glared.

"And don't give me no lip, either," Haruka warned. "This isn't up for discussion."

"It's bad enough I have to take this from Dad," fumed Junko. She lurched up from the table, grabbed her backpack and headed out the door. "The only way I'm forgiving you is if Kasumi is here when I get back!"

"Deal," Haruka grinned and glanced at Michiru.

"You have such a way with her," Michiru teased.

"If I was like that when I was her age," Haruka said, "I can't help but wonder what it was that you fell in love with. I don't know how you kept from slugging me."

"I considered it a few times," Michiru grinned. Then she grew misty. "I guess it was how vulnerable you were. You appealed to my maternal side. You still do."

"Oh? It's not the way I make you wet your pants when I give you 'the look'?" Haruka leered.

"Finish your breakfast," Michiru said. She pressed the woman's nose with her finger, then gathered up the empty dishes to wash.

* * *

The Campus District police station had seen many things over the years, from ten drunken youths who crammed themselves into a Nissan compact and then couldn't get out to a student who had been shamed by flunking out of the university and set himself on fire in the center of campus. Being this close to the university, the daily mission of maintaining order was somewhat different than any other station in the city.

But the officers and staff who ran the station had never seen a full-fledged Sailor Senshi walk into the station and up to the desk before; until now.

"Hi," Sailor Uranus said to the officer staffing the main desk. "I need to talk to the detectives who are in charge of the Kasumi Nobumura case. Are they around?"

"Who should I say is asking for them?" the officer asked. His skepticism was clear on his face.

"Really?" Uranus asked. "The uniform doesn't tip you off? I know we're not as famous as the Inners, but it should tell you something."

The officer just stared.

"Sailor Uranus," the Senshi sighed.

"Uh huh."

"You don't think I'm real?"

"Anyone can wear a costume," the officer replied. "There was a cosplay party on campus just last year. They had a lot of Sailor Senshi there." He leaned in. "Can you prove you're a Sailor Senshi?"

"Should I blast a hole in the wall?" Uranus asked. "Wait, I know." She wrote a phone number on a pad. "Call this number. They'll vouch for me."

The officer looked at the number skeptically, then sighed and punched it in.

"Crystal Palace, how may I direct your call?" came the female voice on the phone.

"Is this really the Crystal Palace?" the officer swallowed.

"Yes it is. How may I direct your call?"

"Um," the officer stammered. "I've got someone here who claims to be a Sailor Uranus." Uranus gestured for the phone.

"This is Sailor Uranus," the Senshi said over the phone. "Can you connect me with Queen Serenity? Code is 262118."

"One moment," the operator replied. Uranus gestured for the call to go on speaker.

"Uranus?" a high-pitched woman's voice. "Is everything all right? Where are you?"

"I'm in Niigata visiting with Junko," Uranus replied. "I just need someone to tell the local police that I'm really a Senshi."

"Well of course you are! Pass the phone over!"

"We're on speaker. He can hear you."

"Sir?" came the one voice just about everyone in the country recognized, "Sailor Uranus is one of my closest friends and one of my most trusted Senshi. Please give her everything she asks for. I would really appreciate it."

"Uh," mumbled the officer, awestruck, "yes ma'am, Y-Your M . . ." He stopped when he noticed Uranus shake her head. "Um, yes Q-Queen Serenity."

"Thank you so much!" the Queen replied. "Uranus, you're not in any trouble, are you?"

"Just checking a few things out," Uranus told her. "Don't worry about it, Dumpling."

"Well, all right. But if you need anything, you call me!"

"Understood. See you, Dumpling," Uranus smiled and hung up. She looked at the officer.

"You call the Queen 'Dumpling'?" the officer asked. Uranus replied with a stony look. "I'll page Detective Kinogura," he whispered.

* * *

Wei-yun Chen had emigrated from Hong Kong when the city was turned over to Mainland China because he didn't trust the Chinese government to keep their promise of autonomy for the city. He landed in Niigata with his wife and son and did the only thing he knew how to do: he opened a restaurant. Things had been difficult at first, but once word of mouth spread among the university students, his business began to pick up and soon he was thriving. And without the government restrictions, his family began to thrive as well. Three more children were delivered into the world, all Japanese citizens. All in all, Chen felt more and more that he'd made the right decision to move here.

The lunch crowd was just beginning to filter in. Chen looked up from his stove, where he prepared meals before the eyes of his customers. Business was still light, due as much to the students occupied with final exams as with the time of day. But his eye caught one customer in particular. She was Japanese, trim and comely and stylishly dressed. But what intrigued him most was that she had green hair. It intrigued some of the students who were there as well, as they pointed and whispered. The woman had a camera on a strap around her neck and she was approaching the counter.

"You order?" Chen asked.

"Actually I wanted to ask you a few questions," Michiru began. "But that shrimp does look appealing, and it is close enough to lunch time."

"You reporter?"

"No. I'm just looking for interesting things to photograph," Michiru smiled. Then she grew serious. "I wanted to ask you about Kasumi Nobumura, if that's all right."

Chen sighed. "I no speak Japanese very goodly," he told her in earnest.

["My China speak muchly worse,"] Michiru offered good-naturedly. That drew a smile from Chen.

"You friend of hers?"

"Friend of a friend," Michiru replied. "Junko Tenoh, the girl Kasumi rooms with." Chen recognized the name and eased considerably.

"What you want to know?" Chen asked, working at his fried shrimp dish as they spoke.

"Do you remember the last time you saw her?"

"Normal night," Chen responded, but Michiru could see the emotion in his face. "Kinda busy early, die off after nine. Kasumi-Chan stay to ten. Just like usual. Think nothing wrong. Just another night." Chen stopped stirring the shrimp and took a moment to collect himself. "Get call next day from Junko-Chan. Junko-Chan say Kasumi-Chan not come home. Asks when she left. I tell her. Police come by. They ask questions. Ask when she left. I tell them. Now you here."

"I'm sorry if this is painful for you," Michiru offered.

"If it find Kasumi-Chan, it worth it," Chen told her.

"Did anything happen here?" Michiru asked. "Was someone bothering her? Someone perhaps showing an odd amount of interest in her?"

"No," Chen shook his head. "Normal night." He clenched his teeth. "Why this happen? Kasumi-Chan good girl. She work hard. She very nice to the customers. She very nice to my wife. She almost big sister to my daughter." He scooped the shrimp dish into a bowl and handed it over the counter. "Why this happen to her? Why this happen to good people? No one hate Kasumi-Chan. No one." Michiru took the bowl.

"Did you notice anyone who didn't look like they belonged?" Michiru asked. "Or perhaps someone who had never been here before?"

"No one," Chen shook his head.

"One more question," Michiru ventured. "There have been rumors floating around about a creature in the marsh down the street."

"Numachi No Kyuketsuki," Chen said, then snorted derisively. "That fairy tale to scare five year old when they misbehave. You no believe that?"

"I like to keep an open mind," Michiru smiled. She dug into her purse and offered some money to Chen.

"Pay at cashier," he replied, pointing to the end of the counter. Michiru nodded. "And Miss!" he said with some desperation in his voice. Michiru turned to him. "You find Kasumi-Chan - - you eat here free for life! Promise!"

"I'll do my best," Michiru nodded graciously.

Continued in Chapter 3


	3. Investigation

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 3: "Investigation"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Detective Kinogura met Sailor Uranus in the hall near the front desk of the campus station. When the police detective got a glimpse of Uranus, his face betrayed a scowl before he shoved it behind his "public mask". Uranus had run into the attitude before, but shoved her feelings behind her own "public mask". A confrontation wouldn't get her the information she was looking for.

"Which one were you again?" Kinogura asked. He was thirty-seven, medium height and build with thick black hair. His suit was cheap, but fit him well, and his face hadn't acquired the tired look Uranus could remember seeing on other police officers.

"Sailor Uranus," she responded neutrally. "I don't get as much publicity as some of the others, so it's not surprising that you don't recognize me."

"Uh huh," Kinogura responded. It was going to be like that. "Do you want to step back into one of the interrogation rooms so we can talk in private? I figure you don't want the particulars of this case getting around anymore than I do. And you do kind of attract attention."

"I tried to get the skirt changed to slacks, but they wouldn't go for it," Uranus quipped. It fell flat. "Sure."

Inside one of the interrogation rooms, Kinogura gestured to a seat, then sat down at a table across from her. When Uranus took her seat, he leaned forward.

"So what's the Crown's interest in this case?" he asked. "And does that mean it's more than just a simple missing person?"

Uranus considered her response. "There's been some talk about a demon or yokai or something called Numachi No Kyuketsuki that might be responsible for the disappearance," Uranus told him.

"You believe that?" Kinogura asked.

"Too soon to tell," Uranus responded. "Sure, ninety-five percent of these reports end up being because someone had too little education or too much sake. But we have to check it out in case it ends up being in the other five percent, along with the Ice Giants and the Dream-stealing Circuses." It seemed to satisfy the detective, though he openly still wasn't thrilled by her presence.

"So what have you found?" he asked.

"Nothing concrete either for or against," Uranus said. "That's why I'm here. I want to find out how far you've gotten and if you've turned up anything one way or another."

Kinogura remained silent. He wouldn't look at Uranus and seemed to be debating his next response.

"Hey, we're all on the same side here," Uranus bristled.

"Are we?" the detective said, looking at her now. "I know the directive came down from Tokyo that you Senshi are in charge and that we're supposed to cooperate with you. Maybe that's fine for Tokyo. We usually don't get space aliens in Niigata, so our force and our methods work just fine. We don't need 'Warriors of Love and Justice' taking over."

"Look, I'm not here to put you out of your job," Uranus sighed. "I'm here to find that missing student. As long as she gets found alive and safe, I don't care if you do it or I do. I'm not looking for credit and you don't have to like me. I just want to find that student and whoever or whatever took her."

"Yeah," Kinogura sighed. "OK. According to witnesses, Nobumura left work within a few minutes either side of ten p.m., headed for the bus stop east of the restaurant she worked at. That's the last time anyone saw her - - at least anyone who has come forward."

"You guys got traffic cameras up here?"

"There's a camera at the intersection next to the bus stop," Kinogura informed her. "There's no record of her reaching the bus stop."

"How far away is it from the restaurant?"

"A block and a half," the detective said. "There's a small street between the stop and the restaurant she could have turned down. It's full of student residences mixed with a few private homes. Uniformed officers canvassed the block on both sides. Nobody saw or heard anything and there was nothing suspicious beyond a car with expired tags."

"Gives me a place to start looking," Uranus commented. "Any previous incidents in that area?"

"Just the usual noise complaints, public intoxication and fist fights - - a couple of shoplifting calls," the detective reported. "Nothing that would indicate a sexual predator or a serial murderer."

"And nobody was out at that time?" Uranus asked. "Does this place roll up the streets at ten?"

"A few homeless people sleep in the parking lot of the book store across from the bus stop," Kinogura replied. "We questioned them all, but nobody had any useful information. And yes, we checked their records. The worst thing we found was a couple of them had been jailed in the past for vagrancy or public intoxication." He paused a moment. "You might find this interesting. One of them suggested we look in the fenced off marsh near campus. None of them will go near the place."

"I'll keep that in mind," Uranus nodded. "Anything else?"

"No," Kinogura sighed and his frustration was clear to Uranus. "Somewhere between the restaurant and the bus stop, someone - - or something - - swooped in, snatched her up and disappeared with her. And all we can do right now is keep looking."

"Yeah," Uranus scowled. "Thanks. If I find something out, I'll let you know. Maybe together we can crack this case."

"Uh huh," Kinogura said, rising from his chair. "You know, I almost hope that it's a yokai or something else out of the ordinary. Because I'd hate to think a human could be capable of striking this quickly and this anonymously. Because how safe is anyone then?"

* * *

Michiru closed her cell phone and headed east from the Chinese restaurant. Haruka had just passed on everything she had learned from the police. Earlier she had talked to Artemis back in Tokyo. He had run a computer check on the area for anything unusual. Since 1945, there had been no recorded instances of any unusual sightings, no unusual recordings of radiation, energy, volcanic, seismic, radar or sonic levels, and nothing unusual beyond the persistent legend of Numachi No Kyuketsuki. Several attempts to develop the land had been made and abandoned over the years due unspecified problems with the work crews.

He reported that area had experienced twelve missing persons reports, with eight of them resolved. Two of the missing persons had turned up dead: one in 2002 and one in 1991. No killer had been found. Michiru asked for a file on both cases to be transmitted to her.

At the street between the restaurant and the bus stop, Michiru turned north and began leisurely walking down the street. As she walked, she would snap photos of houses, yards, trees and anything else she deemed significant. The wind blew at her skirt, occasionally giving someone who might be watching her a glimpse of leg. Once the breeze tugged at the sun hat she wore, forcing her to reach for it before it blew away.

"Hey, Miss!" a youthful voice yelled at her. "Take our picture!"

Michiru turned and saw three young men standing by the entrance to an apartment building. They were dressed in sweat shirts and shorts and looked just past twenty. Smirking, Michiru turned the camera to them and aimed. Immediately the youths struck flamboyant poses. She snapped a picture. They took it as an invitation to come over.

"Did you get our good sides?" one asked. He had a fair build, brown hair and glasses.

"You don't have one, Akuda!" mocked the second. He was more stocky with close-cut black hair. Michiru turned the camera and showed them the image stored on the memory card.

"Are we going to be in the paper?" asked the third. He had nice hair and a pleasant face, but seemed gangling and awkward.

"I don't work for the papers," Michiru told them. "I'm just collecting photographs. The most interesting ones will be published in a book I'm planning."

"For real?" asked Akuda, the one with glasses. "Are you an artist?"

"Are you famous?" asked the burly one.

"Some people think of me that way," Michiru smiled.

"Who are you?"

"Michiru Kaioh?" Michiru responded. No immediate recognition came.

"Hey!" the burly one said suddenly. "You're the girlfriend of Haruka Tenoh, the Formula 1 driver!"

"Wow, you are famous!" exclaimed the gangling one.

"Yes . . ." Michiru nodded stiffly.

"We thought you were with the press," he continued. "They've been all over the place the last couple of days, ever since that one girl disappeared."

"I think I heard something about that," Michiru nodded. "What happened?"

"Nobody knows," Akuda spoke up. "She just vanished one night."

"Did any of you know her?" They all shook their heads. "Well, that's certainly alarming news. Do things like that happen around here a lot?"

"No," Akuda shook his head. "Campus is usually pretty safe. I mean, we get our share of suspicious characters because a lot of people think college students are easy marks."

"Mainly because a lot of them are," the gangling one spoke up.

"There's things to watch out for, but nothing like this has happened in a long time."

"How long ago?" Michiru asked.

"I don't know," shrugged Akuda. "Ten or fifteen years ago, at least."

"Yeah, the only really bad thing that's happened around here was the Ice Giants," the burly one added. "And that happened everywhere. Niigata's a pretty nice place, except for the humidity. I'm glad I came here."

"It'll probably end up that she ran off with her boyfriend or something," the gangling one ventured. "You know women." Michiru's eyebrow raised, but she said nothing.

"Maybe she got into an accident or something," offered the burly one. "She could be laying in a hospital hurt and nobody knows her name and neither does she."

"That's the soap opera you watched last week," Akuda scowled.

"Are there places that could be that dangerous around here?" Michiru asked innocently.

"Like old wells or condemned buildings?" the burly one asked. "Not that I know of. Land is pretty scarce in this end of the city and it doesn't sit unused."

"Well, there's the marsh," the gangling one added.

The other two looked at him disapprovingly.

"That's where that silly legend exists, isn't it?" Michiru queried. "What was the name of it?"

"Numachi No Kyuketsuki," he nodded. "Nobody wants to believe in it. But something's in there."

"You've seen it?"

"Well," he grimaced, "no. But you never see any birds or animals in there. And an undisturbed wetland like that is going to have wildlife. It's weird."

"You're weird, Mamatsuchi!" frowned the burly one. "Nobody believes in marsh vampires except weird-o's and little kids! Don't pay any attention to him, Ma'am."

"Well it would make a great picture," Michiru said for effect. "But if you think it's dangerous . . ."

"It's probably nothing," Akuda surmised. "But the locals all avoid the place, so maybe it would be a good idea to do that, too."

"All right," Michiru smiled. "Well, you three must have finals to study for, so I'll be on my way."

"Let us know if you print our picture!" the burly one said. Michiru gave them a smile and a wave as she walked off.

"Man, it's such a shame that someone who looks like that is into girls," she heard Mamatsuchi say as she walked off. It passed off her back, because Michiru was too busy taking pictures and turning over the information she'd learned in her mind.

* * *

At eight p.m., the lights in the book store on the west part of campus went out. Within minutes, people began to congregate in the parking lot. Several tents went up in the back of the lot, near the loading dock.

Haruka Tenoh watched all of this from the bus stop. Satisfied, she looked around the rest of the area. The bus stop was well lit and she saw the traffic cam mounted by the traffic signal. The entire street was well lit. The woman glanced down toward the Chinese restaurant. The stretch between the restaurant and the stop was less well lit, and the residential street between them was just as bad. The area wasn't pitch black, but there were placed for predators to hide. Haruka's time on the streets told her that.

Finishing, she crossed the street and walked over toward the tents. There was a half dozen men, all homeless and either down on their luck or unwilling to take advantage of Japan's shelters. Several of them eyed her suspiciously as she approached.

"What you want?" one of them said when Haruka got within ten feet. He was about forty-five with shabby clothes, shabby stubble on his face and mild defiance in his eyes. The others were a mix of ages, some as young as twenty-four and one in his sixties.

"Just want to ask a few questions, if that's OK," Haruka replied calmly.

"You another cop?" he sneered. "If this is about the girl that disappeared, they already asked their questions."

"But did they ask the right ones?" Haruka shot back. "I'm no cop. Just someone who wants to find Nobumura-San safe and sound."

"Like we told the cops, we don't know nothing," he grumbled. "Now push off. I need my beauty sleep."

"Will two thousand yen change somebody's mind?" Haruka asked. And she slipped a pair of thousand yen notes out of her jeans.

"That depends," grinned the shabby man. "What if I just go over there and take it?"

"You can try," Haruka replied stonily.

The scruffy man sized Haruka up. They glared at each other for several moments. Haruka judged that he thought she was a man and it probably helped dissuade him. Finally he smiled, revealing misshapen teeth.

"OK, you win," he grinned. "Numachi No Kyuketsuki got her. I saw it myself. It grew out of a shadow, grabbed the girl from behind and dragged her back into the shadow kicking and screaming! That's the last anyone ever saw of her." He held out his hand. "Now give me my money."

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you?" Haruka smirked cynically.

The man scowled, then spit on the ground and climbed into one of the tents. Several of the others followed suit. Haruka sighed, then turned and began walking away. But a noise behind her betrayed soft footsteps. Haruka turned and found the twenty-four year old cautiously approaching, his worn athletic shoes concealing his approach. Seeing that Haruka was aware of him, the man stopped. He had black hair and a face that had been attractive once, but was fading due to neglect.

"Something you just thought of?" Haruka asked as a challenge.

"I," he began, fear strangling his words. Haruka couldn't tell if her was afraid of her or afraid of betraying a confidence. "The woman you're looking for. I saw her."

"Yeah?"

"I did! I swear I did!"

"Where?"

"Over there," and he pointed to the street running between the bus stop and the restaurant. "It was two nights ago. It was dark and the moon was up in the sky, so it was probably ten or ten thirty. I was up, um, taking a leak, and I saw her walking down the street. I noticed her because I thought she looked kind of pretty. Of course now-a-days just about any woman looks pretty. It's been so long . . ."

"About where did you see her?" Haruka prodded.

"Over there. She was just getting ready to cross the street. And I looked away." He swallowed. "And when I looked back, she was gone. It was just a few seconds."

"What, did she get dragged into a shadow?" scowled Haruka.

"No!" he exclaimed. "Well, I don't know. I don't know what happened. It's just she was there, I looked away, and when I looked back she was gone." He looked down. "And I wasn't high that night. I didn't have enough money to score anything. So I was clear-headed. Well, as clear-headed as I've been in a while."

"You didn't see anyone else? Any cars or vehicles, anybody else walking on the street?"

"Nothing. It was just her. She didn't act like anyone was following her. I don't know what got her. That's all I know." And he glanced at the two thousand yen.

"This is straight?" Haruka asked.

"It's all I know," he replied earnestly. "I hope you find her. I'm not that far gone."

After a moment, Haruka handed the notes to him. He took the money and gave her an embarrassed little bow.

"Word of advice?" Haruka offered. "Use that to buy a hot meal instead of a score."

"I'll try," the man replied and slunk off, quickly concealing the money from his sleeping companions. Haruka turned and stared at the corner. There was enough concealment and shadow in that particular spot that someone could hide and ambush her.

Or some thing.

Slowly ambling toward the corner, Haruka pulled her cell phone out and called Michiru. At that moment, she was of a mind to ask Michiru to ask Rei if there were such things as demons who pulled people into shadows.

"Haruka?" Michiru answered and Haruka could hear the agitation in her voice.

"What's up?"

"Junko's last class ended at six, didn't it?"

"Yeah. Why? Isn't she home?"

"No."

A cold dread flooded over the sandy blonde's body.

Continued in Chapter 4


	4. Lurking

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 4: "Lurking"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

"Junko's not with you, is she?" Michiru asked over the phone. Haruka heard it, but a surge of adrenaline had her mind racing.

"No. She didn't call?" Haruka asked.

"I called her about four," Michiru reported. "I told her everything we'd learned today. My hope was that something might jog a memory that she hadn't thought of before. She asked if we'd checked the marsh or looked into any possibility of that local myth being real. When I told her that we were eliminating other possibilities, she got a little angry."

"I bet. She is my sister," Haruka sighed.

"You don't suppose she went out on her own, do you?"

"That's probably just what she did," Haruka concluded. "And given how obsessed she is with this Numachi No Kyuketsuki, I bet I know where she went. Get over here as fast as you can. I'm headed over to the marsh. There's no telling what's in there. There may not be a predatory yokai, but there could be mamushi in there."

Haruka closed the phone and headed for the marsh at a dead run. Once she was past the Chinese restaurant, her henshin stick appeared in her hand.

Not stopping for possible traffic, Sailor Uranus bolted across the street toward the fenced off marsh. Springing from the sidewalk, Uranus vaulted over the fence with room to spare. She landed on the soft, wet ground, crouched and looked around.

The marsh was overgrown with plants. It was dense and further shielded the area from what little light there was at eight twenty p.m. Uranus listened, both for some sign of Junko and for some sign of something lurking in the thick brush. She didn't call out just yet, not without judging to see whether or not something was watching her. There was no sound other than the soft hum of the street light on the other side of the fence. Uranus glanced up at the light. Moths danced around it, hypnotized by the light. Her gaze returned to the marsh. Dried foliage hung from the trees and bushes, muffling the sound of the breeze blowing through the leaves and making the trees and brush eerily motionless.

"Nothing," Uranus thought. "Not even a cricket. It's like all of the animals have enough sense to steer clear of this place. Why?" She looked around uneasily. "Is there something in here?"

A sound struck her. It was soft and muffled, and kind of juicy. Making her way along the fence, a fence that could be vaulted at the first sign of trouble, Uranus headed north. The overgrowth was thick near the fence, but she could see that the growth thinned out the closer it came to the water. As she walked, her boots oozing into the ground with every step, the Senshi could see there was about fifteen to twenty feet of shallow water with grass growing up out of it about four to five feet tall. Another sound, just like the first, caught her ear. It was like someone or something was trying to walk in the oozing mud and the suction of the mud pulling away from limbs was betraying their presence.

Then she heard a soft but very vulgar curse. Uranus smiled. A few more feet along the fence and the Senshi hit a small open patch in the dense foliage. There, about twenty feet from the fence, Junko was trying to walk through marsh. She was sunk up to her ankles, the bottom hem of her jeans wet and smeared with mud and leaves. Sensing she wasn't alone, Junko looked up and spotted Sailor Uranus.

"Uranus!" she gasped, her mood a mixture of guilt and elation.

"I ought to tan your hide!" Uranus growled, shoving through the small clearing and marching toward her.

"Well, somebody had to check this place out!" Junko spat back. "Poor Kasumi could be in here, hurt or dying - - or being eaten by that . . .!"

"So naturally you had to do it!" Uranus snapped back.

"I wasn't going to wait for you or Sailor Neptune to 'get around to it'!" Junko fumed. "Besides, this . . .!"

"SHHH!" Uranus said, holding her hand up to Junko's face.

The Senshi looked around cautiously, suspiciously. Junko smothered the remainder of her protest in her throat, her eyes growing wide. An eerie silence descended on the marsh. Neither woman moved. Junko felt her heart begin to pound in her chest. She wanted to ask Uranus what she'd heard, but kept silent in deference to the Senshi she idolized. A moment passed, then two, then three. Junko felt a slight breeze waft across them.

Suddenly Uranus lunged at Junko. She pulled the girl up out of the muck, slung Junko over her shoulder and bolted for the fence. The sucking mud of the marsh slowed Uranus down, to her frustration, but the Senshi poured on every last ounce of speed she could muster. When they reached the chain-link fence, Uranus braced her free hand on the top pipe and vaulted over. Landing on the sidewalk, her momentum carried her out into the street. A car jammed on the brake, stopping a foot from them. The driver angrily honked his horn at her, then drove on.

"What was it, Uranus?" gasped Junko as the Senshi put her back on her feet. "Was it Numachi No Kyuketsuki?"

Uranus stared back into the marsh. Junko waited for an answer. While she waited, Michiru pulled up to the curb, driving the Reventon.

"Uranus?" Junko persisted.

"I don't know," Uranus replied softly. "Something is in there. Something I don't like the feel of. Whether it's your marsh yokai, I don't know." She fell silent and listened for a few moments. "It's gone now, whatever it was."

"We've got to go back! It's probably got Kasumi!" protested Junko.

"You don't know that!" barked Uranus. "You don't know Kasumi is in there and you don't know what is in there! And if you just go charging in there, you're liable to get your head handed to you!"

"So we just leave her there?" Junko demanded angrily.

"You don't know if she is there," Uranus countered. "If someone else has her, wasting time in that marsh is just going to delay finding her. And if some predatory yokai does have her, well - - it's probably too late for her anyway."

Junko burned with rage.

"I know it's not what you want to hear," Uranus continued, "but it's something you got to listen to in order to keep yourself safe and free to track down where your friend actually is and be able to help her."

"I realize it's frustrating, Junko, but Uranus is right," Michiru told her. She glanced at the Senshi. "We've attracted an audience."

Uranus glanced over. There was a crowd of fifteen people gathered on the opposite side of the street, watching. Among them, Uranus recognized several of the homeless men from the book store lot. Michiru recognized two of the students she'd talked to earlier. Uranus also noticed people looking from the windows of the homes that lined the street. Among them was the local she'd talked to on her morning jog.

"Please get in the car, Junko," Michiru said. "There's nothing more we can do here tonight." Junko scowled but began to comply.

"Uh," Uranus grimaced, "but - - take those shoes off, first." Michiru rolled her eyes.

* * *

The Reventon parked in the lot behind Junko's apartment complex. Michiru had driven, mostly because she didn't want Haruka driving and chewing Junko out at the same time.

And she knew her love wasn't going to abdicate giving her sister a piece of her mind.

"Stupidest thing you've ever done in your life!" Haruka spat as she and Junko disembarked. "And I don't even know what you did the first sixteen years of your life!"

"I was just trying to help!" Junko fumed back, not backing down an inch. Michiru sighed. If anyone still needed proof that these two were related, here it was.

"How is getting yourself hurt going to help?" Haruka persisted, storming after Junko as Junko stormed into the apartment building. Michiru paused to drape the tarp over the Reventon, because she knew Haruka would insist.

"Right! I should just leave it to the big, famous, know-it-all Senshi and sit and wait," Junko shot back, "as she fritters away her time pretending she's a cop or Sherlock Holmes!"

"How else am I supposed to find her?" demanded Haruka. Junko whirled on her.

"You change into your hot shot Senshi form, go into that marsh and clean out every supernatural creature hiding in it!" snapped Junko. "And that way there won't be anything left to hold onto Kasumi! And if it is too late," and the girl swallowed emotionally, "then she'll be avenged!"

"That's how wars get started," Haruka replied cooly.

"The war's already started," Junko hissed. "It started the minute something grabbed Kasumi." The elevator door opened and Junko entered. A look from her told Haruka that she wasn't welcome to share the ride. Haruka stared as the elevator door closed. She felt Michiru's hand on her shoulder.

"Listening to her just now," Haruka mused with soft bitterness in her voice, "she kind of sounded like Mom and Dad. No matter how open-minded she is, no matter how independent of them, they raised her and she can't help but be influenced by them."

"She's frustrated and upset," Michiru counseled, "and she's lashing out." Michiru stroked Haruka's hair and smiled. "It's a family trait."

"That sounded like a shot," murmured Haruka. But she wouldn't look at her love.

"So what did you sense in that marsh?"

"It's like I told Junko; I don't know," Haruka frowned. "It was an instinct more than anything. I got that feeling. If you face danger long enough, sometimes you can sense it when it's near."

"Yes," nodded Michiru.

"And then the wind told me to haul ass, so I did."

"You think Numachi No Kyuketsuki is real?" the green-haired artist asked.

"I don't know," Haruka sighed. "It could have been a bear or a mamushi or something. They can be just as deadly as a yokai with a bad attitude. But I'm beginning to wonder. Pair this with what that homeless guy told me tonight, and maybe Junko is right."

"What did he say?"

"He saw Kasumi at the corner of that street between the restaurant and the stop," Haruka said, staring out the entrance to the apartment building. "He looked away, then looked back a few seconds later - - and she was gone. And this other guy told me he saw a demon grab her and pull her into a shadow. I thought he was lying - - but what if he's not?"

"It seems a little far-fetched," Michiru told her, "but I'll consult with Rei. Meanwhile, maybe you should call it a night."

"I don't want to," Haruka admitted. "The longer this drags on, the less likely it is that we'll find Kasumi alive. And that's really going to hurt Junko."

"The police are working on it," Michiru advised her. "It won't be like the search has been abandoned."

Haruka expelled a breath. "Yeah, you're right." And she headed for the door to the parking lot.

"Where are you going?" Michiru asked.

"I'm going to sleep in the car," Haruka replied. "I don't think I'm too welcome upstairs tonight." And she was out the door.

Michiru opened the door to the apartment and found Junko sitting on the sofa, a pillow pulled to her chest and her legs pulled up against it. The girl glanced up at her.

"Where's Haruka?" Junko asked, traces of anger still in her voice.

"Sleeping in the car," Michiru smiled. "I think she's just trying to let things cool down."

"That's so stupid," grumbled the young blonde.

"It's a family trait," Michiru said wryly. Junko shot her a glance. "She's been known to let her emotions cloud her common sense. And it's a way of avoiding another fight. She doesn't want to fight with you, Junko."

"Yeah," Junko frowned, but the words had touched her.

"But what you did was pretty risky,"Michiru added.

"Maybe," Junko sighed. "It's just that I get so frustrated. Kasumi is who knows where with who knows what happening to her, and I can't do anything."

Michiru watched her as she spoke.

"I-I just wanted to help," Junko muttered.

"It must be hard for you," Michiru offered, "being as close to Kasumi as you seem to be. And being the sister who doesn't have the ability to turn into a heroic figure."

Junko stared at her and Michiru knew she'd pierced the girl's defenses.

"Ever since I found out about Haruka," Junko said softly, "it's like - - she's everything I'm not. She's a famous race car driver. She's got a really fantastic girl friend who loves her more than anything. And she can become a super warrior. And she's so independent. She doesn't take anything from anybody." Junko sighed. "She's . . . the greatest person on the face of the Earth. And I'm going to be a school teacher. How do you compete?"

"There's nothing wrong with being a school teacher," Michiru said.

"Michiru," Junko began, looking at the woman with just a hint of desperation, "what if you couldn't be a famous artist or a famous violinist? What if all you could be was a school teacher - - but you still wanted to be a famous artist?"

"Junko, we all contribute," Michiru told her, sitting down on the sofa next to her. "It's OK to have aspirations, but we have to temper those aspirations to our abilities. As long as we contribute to the common good, how we do it is nothing to be discouraged or ashamed about. And denigrating yourself because you're not someone else is wrong and counter-productive. No one expects you to be Haruka except you. You can't be Haruka. You can only be the best you that you can possibly be. And achieving that is something to be proud of."

"Yeah, Pep Talk 101," sighed Junko. "We learned all about it in the sociology class I had to take last year."

"And that was my best one," pouted Michiru. Junko glanced at her and saw the woman smile. "But I meant what I said. Junko, you may not be able to win a Formula 1 title or change into a Senshi, but I know for a fact that Haruka could never inspire a classroom full of young minds to learn and grow. If you can do that, you're one up on her. We all have our strengths."

"Yeah, OK," Junko surrendered. "Michiru, be honest with me. Do you think we'll find Kasumi alive?"

"We have to keep hoping."

* * *

Sleep was one of those lonely things Michiru had to endure when Haruka was not there. She'd done it every year when Haruka was touring on the Formula 1 circuit and had hated every moment of it. Feeling Haruka's arm possessively over her waist as they slept back to front was something she'd come to love and depend on. And she missed it.

Then there was the mystery of where Kasumi Nobumura was and was it connected to whatever was living in the marsh near campus. Wondering about that didn't contribute to her ability to sleep, either. Finally the woman sighed and glanced at the clock by the sofa she was sleeping on. It said five twenty-two a.m. It was a little early, but Michiru decided that she wasn't going to sleep anymore. Maybe she could use the time to try searching again with the Deep Aqua Mirror and actually learn something valuable this time.

As she rose from the sofa, though, Michiru realized that someone was walking around in the dark. Years of experience kicked in and Michiru scanned the room to locate the person. Once located, she concentrated on trying to determine who it was and if they were a threat.

"Junko?" Michiru asked. The figure stopped and turned to her. It clicked on a light on the wall and Michiru confirmed her conclusion.

"Sorry if I woke you," grimaced the young blonde.

"Where are you going?"

Junko grew embarrassed. "I, uh, was just going down to, um, invite Haruka up," she replied haltingly, "to breakfast. She's probably hungry. And I know she'll want to get her running in first."

"I think that's a wonderful idea," Michiru smiled. "Hopefully you won't have to help her up. Haruka's not getting any younger and I don't imagine sleeping in a car all night does much for your back."

"Yeah," Junko sighed. Then she straightened. "Well, it's her own fault if she is."

Michiru giggled to herself as Junko exited the apartment. As long as she'd known Junko, it still amazed her how many similarities she and Haruka had. The woman got out of bed and dressed casually. When she exited the bathroom, her first thought was to head over to the kitchen and select some things to cook. Not knowing how accomplished a cook Junko was, the woman decided that it might be safer for her to do it.

The rice was started and Michiru was mulling over how to prepare some eggs when Junko burst into the apartment.

"Michiru!" the young woman gasped out anxiously. "Haruka's gone!"

"She's not in the Reventon?" Michiru asked.

"No! Do you think Numachi No Kyuketsuki got her?"

Continued in Chapter 5


	5. Suspect

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 5: "Suspect"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

"I bet Numachi No Kyuketsuki got her!" Junko said, more generally talking out loud than anything. She'd gone down to the parking lot to rouse Haruka from her night spent in her Reventon, but found she was gone. "I bet it came for her because we disturbed it in the marsh! And . . .!"

"Junko," Michiru said, her cell phone out, "the rational mind eliminates the conventional first before assuming the unconventional." And she pressed Haruka's speed dial number.

"Did you say that when Sailor Galaxia was taking people's star seeds," muttered Junko. She crossed her arms over her chest peevishly.

"Yeah?" Michiru heard Haruka say over her phone. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where are you? Junko went out to look for you and couldn't find you."

"Sorry," she heard Haruka offer. "Couldn't sleep. I'm over by the Chinese restaurant, at that intersection where Kasumi disappeared. Thought I might find something that everyone else overlooked. Did I worry you?"

"I wasn't terribly concerned," Michiru replied cautiously, "but you scared Junko out of a year's growth."

"Tell her I'm sorry," Haruka replied.

"She says you're a jerk," Michiru told her after relaying the message. "It's hard not to agree. So did you find anything that would make this worthwhile?"

"Nothing that hasn't been walked over and through for several days now," Haruka said. "If I'd been there just after it happened, I might have found more. This is so weird, Michiru. There doesn't seem to be any physical evidence anywhere. She's just here one second and gone the next. There's got to be something somewhere that points us to where that woman is. Unless it really is of supernatural origin. Nothing natural is that perfect."

"Call it healthy skepticism if you will, but I still think there's a very human cause to all of this," Michiru responded. "Even though that would explain why my mirror can't find the answer, I just think it's something else."

Michiru closed the phone and Junko stared at her expectantly.

"Haruka is going to get her running in first," Michiru advised her. "I got some breakfast already started. Feel free to contribute. I don't know what you prefer to start the day."

"This is fine," Junko huffed, stirring the rice. "I bet Haruka's going back to take another look at the marsh."

"You're probably right," Michiru replied. Junko turned to her. "I know it's a risk, but it's a risk she's better prepared to handle than you are."

"Yeah, rub it in," Junko scowled.

"It's difficult, but you have to let the experienced hands handle this," Michiru told her. "Haruka and I, and the police, can't do our jobs at peak efficiency if we're worrying about you, too. So, do you have any finals today?"

"Not today. I'm free all day." Junko thought a moment. "Michiru, would it be OK if I went down to where Kasumi worked and asked around. Maybe they thought of something else. Or maybe there was someone there that the police and you missed. Or . . .?"

"That'll be fine," Michiru smiled. "Just do me a favor: Stay clear of the marsh? And keep your head. Don't get so focused on uncovering something that you lose awareness of your surroundings and who might be near you. Inattention is the best invitation for something to happen to you."

Junko stared soberly at the green-haired artist. "Yeah, I will," she nodded.

"Will what?" Haruka asked, entering the apartment, her face covered in perspiration. Michiru explained. "Yeah, I guess that's OK. They know you down there, don't they?"

"Some," Junko replied.

"Then maybe they'll say something to you that they wouldn't say to Michiru," Haruka concluded. She sat down before the television and wiped her brow with a towel.

"There's time enough for you to shower," Michiru hinted.

"I want to hear the morning news," Haruka told her. "Want to see if our little to-do in the marsh made the news."

The news program came on and, sure enough, the lead story was Sailor Uranus and an unidentified woman confronting a mythological creature hiding in the marsh near campus. Since they had no actual footage of Sailor Uranus in action, the news program had to settle for interviews with witnesses. The first one appeared on tape and Haruka recognized him as the local she'd talked to yesterday morning.

"It was one of the Sailor Senshi," the man exclaimed for the camera. The cut line on the bottom of the screen identified him as Hajime Inoue. "She was carrying a girl. I don't know which Senshi she was, but she had to be one. No human could leap like that!"

"Guess what, Michiru," Haruka grunted. "I'm not human."

"I'll notify the tax ministry," Michiru smirked. "Perhaps we can get our taxes reduced."

"Did you see the monster?" the reporter asked.

"Well, no, I can't say I did," he replied. "But the legend has been around this area for a long time. And that Sailor Senshi wouldn't be poking around if there wasn't something there. And she wouldn't have leaped over that fence if something wasn't after her. I know I wouldn't go near the place."

"We asked the local police if this incident had any connection to a missing Niigata University student who disappeared three days ago," the reporter said, looking into the camera. "They said there was no evidence to suggest that, but the police did not deny the report. So the question remains: Is Niigata University being stalked by a deadly yokai? How safe are the residents in and around the university? Back to the studio."

"How perfectly sensational," sighed Michiru. Haruka turned off the television.

"Yeah, and it's going to attract every thrill-seeker and kook in the province," muttered Haruka.

"Maybe not," Junko offered.

"Afraid so. Part of being a Senshi is attracting attention. That's bad enough. You put 'senshi' and 'monster' in the same sentence, it's like a people magnet. Everybody's got to stop and stare - - maybe get some camera phone vid to post on the net. And the more people flocking around here, the easier it'll be for whoever has Kasumi to hide - - or get away with her."

"All because you had to rescue me," Junko mumbled. Haruka glanced over.

"It was going to happen," she told Junko. "The minute I went into that police station as Sailor Uranus, word was going to get out." She pointed at Junko. "Just no more solo acts, OK? You learn anything at that Chinese restaurant, you call me or Michiru. Got it?"

"Yes, Haruka," Junko sighed. "I learned simple Japanese a long time ago."

"Couldn't prove it sometimes," Haruka muttered. Junko made a face at her behind her back.

"Breakfast is ready," Michiru announced. Haruka and Junko headed for the table, but Michiru stopped Haruka, a skillet in her hand. "Shower - first."

"Yes, ma'am," Haruka sighed and headed for the bathroom. Michiru passed out dishes while Junko sat down.

"You sure have her trained," chuckled Junko.

"I wouldn't call it 'trained'," Michiru demurred, then smirked. "Housebroken, perhaps."

Just then, Michiru's Senshi Communicator signaled. As Junko watched enraptured, Michiru opened the face and found Artemis there.

"I've got a possible connection to those two unsolved murders," the white cat reported.

"You do your reputation proud, Artemis," Michiru said sweetly. "What is it?"

"Kenta Tokita," Artemis read. "He was arrested in 2010 for Improper Sexual Imposition. Served four years in prison. He was the brother of the first victim and worked with the second at the campus bookstore."

"Do you have a picture?"

"Displaying it now," Artemis said. His image was replaced with a mug shot of Kenta Tokita. "You can transfer the file to a computer via wi-fi connection and then print it if you need it."

"Thank you, Artemis. He certainly seems like someone we need to talk to," Michiru said to the cat.

"That might be difficult," Artemis added. "According to this file I, um, accessed, the Niigata police picked him up this morning."

* * *

It was considerably more simple to get through the police desk at the campus station than it had been the previous morning. Sailor Uranus was recognized and passed through to Det. Kinogura. But on her way to the door, she was approached by a woman Uranus recognized as the reporter who interviewed Inoue. The woman shoved a microphone attached to a tape recorder in the Senshi's face.

"Sailor Uranus!" she exclaimed. "Is there an actual yokai living in the marsh by the university?"

"No comment," grunted Uranus. She tried to move forward, but the reporter persisted.

"Does this yokai have any connection to the disappearance of a university student?"

"I said no comment," growled Uranus.

"Will the Queen . . .?"

Uranus whirled on her. "Lady, get out of my face!" she snarled angrily.

"I'm just doing my job," the reporter protested. "The public . . ."

"You want to help the public? Find out where Kasumi Nobumura is! Instead of chasing monster stories that'll sell commercial time on your station!"

Uranus ignored the glare she got and opened the door to the detective's room. Inside, she was met by Det. Kinogura. The detective was not glad to see her.

"So," Kinogura asked, "find anything?"

"Kasumi disappeared off the northwest corner of the first street east of the restaurant," Uranus shared. "Don't know how, but whoever it was did it quick."

"Yeah, we already established that. You think the yokai got her?" Kinogura asked cynically. Uranus replied with a stone face. "I saw the news this morning."

"I didn't see a yokai," Uranus snorted. "Wouldn't know it if I did. Yeah, something's in that marsh, but the press is calling it a yokai just to sell laundry soap." It seemed to mollify Kinogura. "You got anything new?"

"We're talking to a person of interest right now," Kinogura replied. Uranus perked up. "Come on. You can watch the closed-circuit recordings from the video room."

Uranus was ushered into a small room. It contained recording equipment, a monitor, and shelves with cases of DVDs marked with case numbers. On the monitor, a detective was questioning a shabbily dressed man. The man, sullen and in his forties, rebuffed the questions gruffly if he answered them at all. Uranus bent forward and looked at the screen.

"Hey! I talked to that guy last night!" Uranus said. "He was one of those homeless guys sleeping in the bookstore parking lot! He's one of the ones who saw Kasumi that night."

"Kenta Tokita," Kinogura commented. "We picked him up this morning."

"Is Kasumi all right?"

"We don't know if he's connected yet," Kinogura said. "When his record kicked back and we saw he had a conviction for sexual imposition, we brought him in for investigation."

"I thought you said yesterday that you checked these guys!" Uranus demanded.

"Well this may amaze you, but people have been known to lie to the police," Kinogura bristled. "He gave us a phony name. When his fingerprints kicked back his real record, we brought him back in." The detective eyed Uranus. "What did he say to you?"

"Some phony story about a demon pulling Kasumi into a shadow," Uranus scowled. "He tell you anything?"

"He's being very uncooperative," Kinogura responded. "I can hold him on a vagrancy charge for twenty-four hours, but unless we can find something that links him to this case, the court will turn him loose at his hearing."

"Maybe you're not asking the right questions," Uranus muttered. Before Kinogura could act, the Senshi was out the door. She entered the interrogation room. Tokita and the detective turned to her, clearly registering their surprise.

"What do you know about that student who disappeared?" Uranus demanded forcefully. "And don't give me any crap about shadow demons!"

"Or what?" raged Tokita. "You Senshi think you're big shots now that you run the country! Well you don't intimidate me! I'm already dead! You can't do anything to hurt me!"

"Really?" Uranus glared. She raised her hand above her head and the Space Sword appeared in it. In a blink, the tip of the sword was pointed at Tokita's throat. As Kinogura burst in, the other detective drew his service weapon. "Now where is Kasumi Nobumura?"

"Sailor Uranus!" barked Kinogura. "Put the weapon down!"

Tokita stared nervously at the sword pointed at him.

"Stay out of this!" snapped Uranus. "I'm a Senshi! I don't have to play by the rules! You hear that, Tokita? This sword took on Galaxia! What do you think it'll do to you?"

"Go ahead!" bellowed Tokita. "I told you I'm already dead!" His face began to scrunch up with emotional agony. "I've been dead ever since that day."

"What day?" demanded Uranus.

"1992," Tokita sobbed. "It killed her. It killed my sister. She was so alive; so alive. She was going to be a retail manager. She was going to be a success. She was so much a part of my life. And then it killed her!"

"It what?" Uranus growled.

"I was only fifteen," Tokita sobbed. "Nothing like that had ever happened before. We were so happy." He wiped his nose with a grubby hand. "I tried to go on. I tried to be what Yuki would have wanted me to be. But being without her hurt so much. I started drinking. It was the only way I could forget - - for a little while."

"What's this 'it' that killed your sister?" Uranus persisted.

"But the more I drank, the more I needed to forget," Tokita continued, lost in his memories. "I got into fights. I started messing up at work. I forced myself on sweet little Rui, who wouldn't hurt a fly. They fired me. I went to prison. When I got out, I went back to the bottle and . . . just . . . gave up. I just waited for my body to catch up to my spirit."

"Tokita," Kinogura asked, leaning in to the man, "who killed your sister?"

The man looked up at him, and he seemed to be back in touch with reality again.

"I don't know," he said. "You tell me! You cops never did find the killer! All you're good for is hassling dead men, like me."

"Did you kill her?"

Tokita grew genuinely angry.

"SHE WAS MY FAMILY!" Tokita bellowed and swung ineffectually at the detective. He ducked back while Uranus moved in. The Space Sword disappeared. Uranus hooked the thrown arm with her own, threw Tokita to the floor face first and bent his arm behind his back. For emphasis, she drove her knee between his shoulder blades.

"Did you kidnap Kasumi Nobumura?" Uranus demanded angrily.

"No!" howled Tokita.

"MAKE ME BELIEVE YOU!"

"I DIDN'T!" Tokita roared. "I haven't touched a woman since Rui! Never!" He began sobbing again. "My lover is a bottle now."

"OK, get off of him," Kinogura hissed, trying to pull Uranus off of him. If she had resisted, he would never have succeeded, but Uranus saw no reason to persist. "Yamada, take him back to lockup please."

Tokita was pulled off of the floor and hustled away. He offered no resistance.

"I guess you Senshi don't have to follow the rules," Kinogura scowled.

"You believe him?" Uranus asked.

"If he did take her, where is she?" Kinogura posed. "Tokita doesn't have any place to go. He doesn't have anything beyond the clothes on his back and a ratty sleeping bag. There aren't any abandoned buildings he could stash her. Unless he killed her and dumped the body and we haven't found it, he doesn't have any means I can think of to hide her this long."

Uranus sighed. "Makes sense. You going to turn him loose?"

"Only if I can't legally keep him," Kinogura replied. "That 'it' he kept talking about. You suppose it's the alcohol talking? His sister's murder was never solved."

"How did she die?" Uranus asked.

"Um," the detective stalled, leafing through a file on the desk. "According to the report, she was asphyxiated."

* * *

Junko exited the Chinese restaurant with a look of bitter disappointment on her face. The proprietor, dear old Li-wei Chun, had been at once happy to see her and immensely conciliatory over the situation with Kasumi. At his insistence, they shared some pork cutlets and fried rice. He had offered any knowledge he could, but could come up with nothing he hadn't already told everyone else. His admonition that she be careful on her way back to her apartment was still ringing in her ears.

The girl paused and glanced to her right. Down the street was the marsh. For a moment, she thought about heading that way. After all, it was daylight and if she only went as far as the fence, what could happen?

Common sense prevailed, though, and Junko turned left. As she approached the northwest corner of the next street, her thoughts were consumed with the mystery. What had happened to Kasumi? Was she still alive? Michiru had said so, but that was yesterday. Was she suffering? Would she ever see Kasumi again? In the two years they had roomed together, she and Junko had developed an unlikely friendship. They had little in common. Instead, like two pieces of a puzzle, they seemed to fit each other and fill in each other's gaps. With both of them about to graduate, Junko had resigned herself to the arrangement coming to an end. It wasn't something she looked forward to. They hadn't even moved out and Junko was beginning to miss Kasumi.

Now she really missed her.

A voice in her head, sounding irritatingly like Haruka's, admonished her for not being aware of her surroundings. As she reached the corner, Junko glanced around her. Because of this, she was able to glimpse the person coming toward her.

Continued in Chapter 6


	6. Walking In Her Shoes

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 6: "Walking In Her Shoes"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Standing at the very corner where her friend Kasumi had disappeared three nights ago, Junko Tenoh turned and glimpsed a person coming toward her. Momentarily she tensed until she recognized the student, Hiroki Yoshida, from her Education 404 class. Yoshida was tall and gaunt, with glasses and no fashion sense. He reminded her of the language teacher she'd had in seventh grade.

"Tenoh," Yoshida nodded as he approached. "No finals today?"

"No," Junko shook her head as the pair ambled across the street. "I'm free today and I only have Advanced Geometry tomorrow."

"Saving the worst for last, eh?" he chuckled.

"How about you?"

"I've got Ancient Literature AND English," Yoshida sighed. "Not looking forward to it."

"Have they announced the grades on the Ed 404 finals yet?"

"Not yet. I think Sensei is going to wait until Friday." Junko noticed Yoshida begin to grow uncomfortable. "So, had lunch yet?"

"I just ate," she replied, nodding to the Chinese restaurant. "Sorry."

"It's OK," Yoshida said, glancing back at the restaurant. She noticed him grow even more uncomfortable. "Um, any, uh, word on Kasumi-Kun?

He hadn't meant it that way, but his question was like dropping a large dripping blanket on top of them both. Junko was brought back to her mood of frustration and helplessness. Yoshida sensed it immediately.

"No, nothing," Junko replied forlornly.

"Well, something will break," offered Yoshida. "Did you hear? The Sailor Senshi are involved. They're sure to find her."

"I hope you're right," Junko nodded. "I've got to get back home. Good luck on your finals."

"Thanks. You, too."

Junko headed home, barely noticing the bustle of midday campus life. Yoshida was only showing concern, but his question had dredged up everything she'd gone through over the last three days and drowned out Haruka's warnings. As she reached the corner by the bus stop and began to step into the street, the shrill sound of an auto horn shook her from her preoccupation. A car whizzed by, narrowly missing her.

"What's the matter with you, Junko!" the girl thought. "You're not going to help Kasumi if you're in the hospital! And you're not going to help her moping like this!" She quickened her pace home. "Maybe Michiru and I can puzzle something out until Haruka gets back. Hopefully she's there."

When Junko entered the apartment, she found Sailor Neptune sitting on the sofa. The Senshi was gazing into a mirror and Junko recognized it as the Deep Aqua Mirror, fangirl that she was. Cautious so as not to disturb Neptune's concentration, Junko silently closed the door and crept over. She peered over Neptune's shoulder, but could only see her own reflection in the glass. Then Neptune sagged. The mirror dropped into her lap, her arm suddenly too weak to hold it. Neptune exhaled with fatigue.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you," Junko offered.

"Not at all," Neptune sighed. "I'd seen all I could see. To be honest, I didn't even realize you were here until you spoke up."

"Are you OK?"

"Using the mirror can be draining," Neptune admitted.

"Let me get you something!" Junko exclaimed and scurried off. She returned moments later with some bottled fruit punch. "It's all we have besides Diet Coke. Honestly, Kasumi lives on the stuff."

Neptune took the bottle and drank some. Junko noticed that the mirror had disappeared. To her untrained eye, the Senshi did seem a little more stable.

"Thank you, Junko," Neptune smiled. "That did help."

"So, did you see anything?" Junko asked, a little more desperately than she wanted to sound.

"I did," Neptune replied soberly. "It wasn't Kasumi, though." Junko deflated.

"What did you see?"

"I'm," Neptune hesitated, "not entirely sure. I believe I saw whatever Uranus encountered in the marsh."

"Numachi No Kyuketsuki?" gasped Junko. "What is it?"

"I'm not certain," frowned the Senshi. "The picture was very dark. It was a dark shape moving through the thick foliage. I couldn't get a clear glimpse of what it was exactly. But it was big, bigger than a normal human. And it wasn't human. I could sense that through the mirror. Other than that, I know as much as you do."

"Could you tell if it has Kasumi?" prodded Junko.

"I got no sense of Kasumi. As a matter of fact, I went into that session specifically looking for Kasumi. But I couldn't get a sense of her at all."

"Does," Junko began anxiously, "that mean she's dead?"

"No," Neptune told her. "It means that the presence of this - - Numachi No Kyuketsuki, for lack of a better name, is so overwhelming that it's all the mirror can sense. Kasumi may be very much alive, but her presence is being drowned out. I'm sorry."

"You did your best," Junko replied, sinking down onto the sofa. "Maybe the only way to find her is to clean out that marsh first and get rid of whatever is in there."

"If it comes to that," Neptune said. "A better course would be to exhaust all other avenues of investigation first."

Just then there was the sound of the door buzzer. Neptune faded away, replaced by Michiru Kaioh. Absently Junko got up and was about to open the door. But Michiru's hand on the door stopped her. Junko looked up at her curiously.

"You have a peep hole," Michiru advised her. "It's there to protect you. You really should take advantage of that instead of opening your door without knowing who or what is there."

Chagrined, Junko peered through the peep hole. Instantly she flung the door open. On the other side was a man and a woman in their middle forties. He was thin and reserved, with thinning black hair, pencil mustache and glasses. She was shorter, thick and fading, with black hair and tired eyes.

"Nobumura-San!" Junko gasped and bowed to them. Michiru did the same out of respect. Junko turned to her. "Michiru, these are Kasumi's parents."

* * *

Haruka stood on the corner, on the spot Kasumi had disappeared from and where Junko had been just forty-five minutes prior. She closed her phone, having traded information with Michiru on what each of them had learned. The woman looked around the area once again.

"Come on!" Haruka thought to herself. "There's got to be SOMETHING here!" She examined the sidewalk and the ground by some bushes for something that would speak to what had happened to Kasumi after she disappeared. Several students passed her and gave her odd looks. Haruka ignored them. "I suppose it's possible she got pulled into these bushes by someone. It was pretty dark and that tree overhead probably shields the area from the street light. But there are no tracks that I can see."

Haruka squatted down and felt the ground.

"Pretty dry," the woman judged. "The kind of ground that wouldn't easily leave tracks. Kind of rare for a climate like Niigata. Luck was on the side of whoever grabbed her." She thought a moment. "I don't have any other leads. I may as well follow this theory and see if it holds up."

Venturing past the bushes, Haruka found herself on the front lawn of a small residence. It was dwarfed on the north side by a large apartment building, four stories tall, with a driveway to underground parking. On the other side of the street was another small residence and three more apartment buildings.

"Assume someone grabbed her," Haruka thought. "They're going to want to avoid well lit areas so they won't be spotted. They wouldn't cross the street, so the east side is out. They wouldn't go due north because someone from the apartment building would spot them. South puts them in the bookstore parking lot. And the only way to go west is to skirt that home."

Following her logic, Haruka walked around the small cottage, keeping as far away as she could. The bushes along the street acted as a fence for the lot and extended behind the property. As she walked, Haruka studied the ground and the bushes, looking for some trace of what happened three nights ago. The bushes ended at the south wall of the neighboring apartment building.

"So there's no way out of this. That means if Kasumi was dragged into those bushes, she'd have to be in this . . ."

Haruka stopped. Something on the ground caught her eye. She stooped down and picked it up. It was a broken metal chain with a crucifix on it. The chain itself was plain stainless steel, as was the cross. Quickly Haruka whipped out her phone.

"Michiru? Put Junko on the phone!" Haruka said breathlessly. "Junko? Did Kasumi wear a necklace of any kind?"

"Yeah," Junko replied. "She always wore this necklace with a Christian cross on it. She and her parents are Catholic. Did you find something?"

"Yeah. Sit tight. I'm going to need you to identify something," Haruka told her. "But I have to check on a few things first."

Disconnecting, Haruka slipped the crucifix into her back pocket. That's when she noticed the bushes. There was a slight parting between two bushes where the crucifix had been.

"Not natural, either," Haruka mused. "Like something passed between them and broke off a few twigs and leaves."

Standing, Haruka stepped through the bushes. Behind them was a small service road. Looking down, she saw some dried twigs and leaves on the pavement, indicating someone has passed through the bushes just as she had. On her right as she faced west was the apartment building. There was a dumpster next to the building and an access door next to it. Looking due west, Haruka could see the Chinese restaurant and its dumpster, as well as some receptacles from the businesses next to it.

Looking farther west, she saw the marsh. The service road was a straight line pointing to it. Resisting the idea to head for the marsh, Haruka pulled out her phone as she walked over to the apartment building dumpster as she called Detective Kinogura.

"This is Sailor Uranus," Haruka said into the phone. "Anybody check the apartment building north of the corner where Kasumi disappeared?"

"Only to canvas the residents. Why?" Kinogura replied.

"I just traced a pretty convincing path from the corner to a service road that leads to the building's back door," Haruka said, lifting the lid on the dumpster and peering in. "Somebody could have snatched Kasumi and dragged her to this place's back door pretty easily."

"And she's in one of the student residences?" Kinogura asked skeptically.

"Maybe. Maybe she's in the basement, locked in with the air conditioning equipment," Haruka argued. "Or maybe not. We won't know until we check."

"Is there some evidence pointing to her actually being in the building," Kinogura asked. "I'd need a warrant to search the building and to get a warrant, I'd need probable cause."

"I'll get you your warrant," Haruka told him. "Just let me call the Palace. You just be ready to go."

Satisfied the dumpster held nothing but garbage, Haruka disconnected and then dialed the Crystal Palace. As she did so, she headed west along the service road.

"Crystal Palace," came the honey-sweet voice. "How may I direct your call?"

"I need King Endymion. This is Sailor Uranus. Code is 262118," Haruka replied. As the operator transferred the call, Haruka looked around. "She could be in either of these houses, too. Or in any of those homes along the next street." The marsh caught her eye again. "Any further distance would be pushing it, unless she was put in a vehicle of some kind. Hello, Endymion? I'm working a case with Michiru over in Niigata. The police need a warrant to search some private residences for a missing student. Yeah, that one. Think you could order the locals to issue one?"

His response didn't please her.

"Rules aren't going to matter if she ends up dead," Haruka shot back. "And the longer it takes to find her, the more likely that is. I don't like it either, but it's got to be done."

She scowled.

"Yeah? Tell that to Serenity." A smile curled her lips. "Hey, if it goes south, I'll take the rap. You can hang me out to dry."

Disconnecting, Haruka arrived at the restaurant. There was nothing of interest in the restaurant's dumpster. Looking over the building from the outside, she determined that it probably had no basement and that it was unlikely Kasumi was being held in the kitchen or stockroom.

"Unless they're all in on it," Haruka muttered. Dismissing the thought, Haruka considered her next move. Once again, her eye drifted to the marsh. Haruka mulled over the pros and cons of approaching it again for a few moments.

Then she headed for it.

As she approached, Haruka could hear the murmur of a crowd. It didn't surprise her, but it did disappoint her. The news coverage had brought the curious, just as she feared. As she emerged from the mouth of the service road, Haruka glanced to her right. Standing there in the gate of the walled yard of his home was the local she'd talked to yesterday morning. Haruka recalled Michiru naming him Hajime Inoue. Inoue was staring across the street at the gathering of gawking pedestrians with unconcealed disdain. He noticed Haruka and waved to her, then went back to frowning at the crowd across the street.

Haruka's attention returned to the crowd as well. There were a dozen people there, mostly students, peering into the marsh to get a look at Numachi No Kyuketsuki. Cars would slow down as they passed as well so the drivers could get a look. Some of the crowd hung back by the curb, while others pressed up against the chain link fence trying to see the monster that had been on the news. Across the street and past the intersection, a van from the local station that had broken the story sat, waiting to see if something else happened.

Turning, Haruka decided to backtrack along the service road. This was the first lead she'd gotten and she didn't want to be distracted from it. A noise caught her ear and she turned back. Three of the college students had jumped the fence and were in the marsh. For a moment, Haruka considered going over and ordering them out. But she turned away. She didn't have time to deal with juvenile demonstrations of macho bravado. The trail might get cold again. She had to concentrate on finding Kasumi. Kasumi was the one in the most danger. And she owed it to Junko, too. If those fools wanted to risk whatever was lurking in that marsh, it was on them.

She had gotten eight steps down the service road when she heard a piercing scream in the distance. It was from the marsh. Haruka ran up to the street again just in time to see two of the students scale the chain link fence like Hell itself was after them. The crowd became anxious. The camera crew emerged from the van.

"It got Kyusuki-Kun!" one of them cried.

"What was it? Did you see it?" the crowd asked.

And another scream of terror pierced the air. That was enough for Haruka. She barreled across traffic at top speed, transforming as she ran. One car was too close and Sailor Uranus was forced to leap onto the hood and over the moving car. Landing, the crowd parting in awe of her, Uranus took one step and then vaulted the fence. Upon landing, she stopped and listened for the wind to guide her. Every eye was glued on her and cameras filmed. Her destination secured, Uranus plunged into the thick foliage with an eye for danger.

Emerging from the other side, Uranus found herself ankle deep in water and muck. It wasn't her chief concern. On her left, she found the third student, his body tightly coiled by a fifty foot python, the body close to two feet in diameter. His eyes were bulging and his face was a deep red. Sunlight glistened off of green-gray scales offset by black scales in a rough diamond pattern. Her gaze panned up to the head as the student writhed in the constricting coils. Then popping up behind him was the head of the serpent.

It was a woman's head. She had three feet of long, fine, straight black hair, a round face and beady, squinting eyes beneath thick eyebrows. The skin was almost white as death and porcelain in texture. Red lips parted and revealed a mouth full of tiny, pointed teeth, save for a pair of curving fangs coming from the top and a smaller set curving up from the bottom of her jaw. She hissed a challenge at Uranus, but stood her ground. It was a nure-onna, just as Rei Hino had described.

In response, Uranus summoned the Space Sword.

"Space Sword Blaster!" Uranus bellowed, throwing energy arcs at the creature.

The arcs struck low on the body, as Uranus consciously tried to avoid hitting the student. They gashed severe cuts into the lower body of the nure-onna. The coils came loose and the limp student slid from its grasp. Uranus stayed wary and her caution was rewarded. The nure-onna slid along the wet marshland with surprising speed and was on Uranus in a second. But the Senshi leaped forward and the creature was caught by surprise. It lunged up at her, missing the Senshi's boot by fractions. Uranus turned in midair and flung more energy arcs at the creature. They struck home and it reared up, hissing in agony.

Uranus hit the apex of her leap and descended, landing in the water and sinking in the ooze until half of her feet were covered. She pivoted, ready for a counterattack. All she saw was the tail of the monster disappearing into the brush headed north. Crouching, Uranus prepared for an attack, her head swiveling back and forth. But after a time, she realized that no further attack was coming. Cautiously she made her way over to the unconscious student. Kneeling down, Uranus discovered that he wasn't just unconscious. Her teeth clenched; Asphyxiated.

Just like Tokita's sister.

A gasp came up from the crowd watching on the other side of the fence, a crowd that had now swelled to four times its previous size. Sailor Uranus emerged from the dense brush with the body of the student flung over her shoulder. She vaulted over the fence and was met by the reporter who had broken the story.

"Sailor Uranus, what was it?" the reporter asked.

"Everybody needs to clear out of this area!" Uranus shouted to the crowd. "NOBODY goes near this marsh until we've had a chance to deal with it! GOT THAT?"

She got stunned stares in return. Uranus ignored them and headed for a police car that had just pulled up. She opened the back of the car and laid the body of the student in the back.

"Sailor Uranus, was that man killed by the monster?" the reporter persisted.

"Get some officers down here to keep this crowd back," Uranus told the officer emerging from the car. "That body needs to go to the morgue. And I need to talk to Detective Kinogura."

"Sailor Uranus . . ." the reporter began to ask.

"Not now," grunted Uranus, climbing into the police car with the body. "You want to be useful? Tell people to stay away from this marsh."

Continued in Chapter 7


	7. Year Of The Snake

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 7: "Year Of The Snake"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

It was a tense time in Junko's apartment. She sat with the Nobumuras, the parents of the missing Kasumi. Despite the emotions that were running through her, Junko sat and explained everything that had happened and everything that was being done to find Kasumi. Junko was as gentle as she could be, but she didn't leave anything out and she didn't sugar-coat the situation. Michiru stood off to one side, for she had no relationship with the Nobumuras and Junko apparently did. The artist watched Junko with admiration. Her handling of the situation showed a maturity she hadn't seen in the girl years ago.

"And that's everything we know," Junko concluded. "Haruka's coming with something she found - - something she wants me to identify. If it does belong to Kasumi, it's one more clue to where she is."

"This Haruka," Mr. Nobumura began, "this sister of yours - - she's a Sailor Senshi, isn't she? I thought I heard Kasumi speak of it once."

"Yeah, she's Sailor Uranus," Junko nodded.

"Well, why hasn't she found Kasumi yet? I thought Sailor Moon and her Senshi had special powers?"

"She's doing everything she can," Junko assured him.

"And the police?" Mrs. Nobumura spoke up. "Where were they? A person can be taken right off the street and spirited away to who knows where? What were they doing?"

"They can't be everywhere," Junko offered. "The Senshi can't be everywhere, either. All we can do is stand back and let them work. They'll find Kasumi."

"Will they?" asked Mrs. Nobumura. Cynicism born of fear colored her expression.

"Now Aina," Mr. Nobumura said, gently grasping his wife's hand. "We have to believe in the Senshi. They've done so much for the country. If anyone can find Kasumi, they can." Aina Nobumura just bowed her head.

"Would you please have some tea?" Michiru said softly, setting a tray down on the table in front of the sofa.

"Who are you?" Aina Nobumura asked. Michiru could hear the edge in the woman's voice. Aina Nobumura was angry and scared and she didn't want to let her anger go.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself," Michiru said pleasantly. "I'm Michiru Kaioh. I'm Haruka's wife."

"Are you a Senshi, too?" Aina asked.

"Sailor Neptune."

"Then why aren't you out looking for Kasumi?" Aina demanded.

"I am," Michiru responded evenly, "in my own way."

Aina Nobumura fell silent. But it was clear the answer didn't satisfy her.

"I just don't understand how anyone could do this," Mr. Nobumura wondered aloud. "How anyone could strike an innocent girl who hasn't done anything to anyone her entire life. I just don't understand it." He looked up at Michiru. "You've dealt with people like that. Why? Why would someone do this?"

"Greed," Michiru told him. "Selfishness; a lack of empathy. Sometimes it seems like there are as many reasons as there are humans on the planet." She leaned in. "You can't lose hope, Nobumura-San. Kasumi's depending on you to be here for her. She's going to need you two when she's found."

Heading back into the kitchen to clean up, Michiru wondered what Haruka was doing. Had she found more? Had she found Kasumi? Or had she found trouble? As if in answer, the cell phone in her purse went off. As she went to answer it, Michiru could see the other three in the room look at her and tense.

"Haruka?" Michiru said. She listened. "Yes, I understand. I'll be there shortly."

She replaced the phone, picked up the purse and headed for the door. Junko intercepted her.

"What's going on?" Junko asked. "What did she find?"

"Junko, please stay here with the Nobumuras," Michiru told her. But Junko wouldn't let her pass.

"Did she find Kasumi?"

"No."

"Then what is it?" Junko demanded.

Michiru considered what to say next with the Nobumuras in hearing distance.

"She found," Michiru began, "Numachi No Kyuketsuki." Junko's eyes widened.

"Is she all right?" Junko gasped.

"Yes, she's all right. But we've got to deal with this immediately."

Michiru started to go, but Junko stopped her again.

"But what about Kasumi?" Junko asked anxiously.

"I'm sorry, Junko," Michiru said solemnly. "This has to take priority."

"Why?" Junko howled. Michiru looked at her with that cold dispassion that Junko always found intimidating.

"Because it killed someone," Michiru replied, "and we have to make sure that it doesn't kill again."

Cutting off further argument, Michiru turned and exited the apartment, leaving Junko staring stunned after her, all sorts of gruesome visions dancing in her head. Then a voice came from behind her.

"What's Numachi No Kyuketsuki?" Mr. Nobumura asked.

* * *

"You actually saw it?" marveled Det. Kinogura.

Sailor Uranus was at the station, talking to Kinogura in an interrogation room. The TV station van had followed her all the way to the police station, but had been barred from going beyond the front desk.

"Yeah," scowled Uranus.

"Well, what is it?"

"It's a nure-onna," Uranus replied. "It's a mythological creature, a giant constrictor snake with the head of a beautiful woman."

"How big are we talking?"

"Looked like about fifty feet long. It killed that college kid; constricted him and he suffocated. I got in a couple of shots before it slithered off."

"It's still out there?" gasped Kinogura.

"Not for long. I called in my partner. We're going to clean that marsh out." Uranus thought dark thoughts for a few moments. "What about the raid on that apartment building?"

"You still want to do that?" Kinogura asked incredulously. "Isn't it obvious that this snake woman grabbed Nobumura and killed her?"

"No, it's not obvious," Uranus countered.

"It's shown it can kill!"

"But it hasn't shown that it can leave that marsh," argued Uranus. "Good thing, too, or we'd really have a panic. Nobumura was grabbed off of a street corner. She didn't go into the marsh. Maybe that nure-onna is bound to that marsh somehow. Maybe it's shy around humans. Maybe it attacked that student to protect its territory. I don't know. But we can't make assumptions or we'll miss something. If we find female bones in that marsh, then you can discontinue the raid on the apartment building." Uranus scowled again. "I wish we could check the houses and businesses along that service road, but that might be more than Endymion will approve of."

"That's a lot of maybes," Kinogura stated.

"That's why we don't assume," Uranus shot back. A memory of a meteor crater in the country passed over her for a moment. "Making assumptions can get people killed. You and your men check that apartment building and all along that service road. Neptune and I will deal with the nure-onna."

"Can you handle something like that?" the detective asked as they headed into the hall. Sailor Neptune was waiting there, enduring the press.

"We may be the only ones who can," Uranus told him. She reached out her hand to Neptune. Neptune took it. Together they got into the Reventon and sped off.

* * *

"You've seen the morning news, Your Majesty?" Luna asked. Serenity and Endymion were having a late lunch in the Royal Chambers. Serenity took turns feeding Endymion and feeding herself.

"Is it something important, Luna? You know I don't watch the news. It's too depressing," Serenity said, then brought a spoon to her mouth. "And DON'T call . . ."

"Don't call you 'Your Majesty', yes, I know, Your Majesty," sighed the black cat. Serenity shot her a peevish pout. "More like you prefer frittering your intellect away on those anime . . ."

"I assume you're referring to the report out of Niigata?" Endymion interrupted for the sake of peace. "I was briefed on it."

"Niigata? Isn't that where Haruka and Michiru are?" Serenity asked. "Is there trouble?"

"They're searching for a missing student, a friend of Haruka's sister," Endymion explained. "I even got a call from Haruka asking me to approve a very broad search warrant. And during their search, they supposedly encountered what Rei called a nure-onna."

"I'm afraid it's worse than that, Your Majesty," Luna added. "Late word out of Niigata is that this nure-onna attacked a different student and killed him."

Serenity gasped audibly. Endymion reached out and took her hand.

"Endymion, should we go over there?" Serenity asked. "If something is killing people and it's a supernatural creature, maybe the Senshi should get involved."

"The Senshi are involved," Endymion replied. "Uranus and Neptune are there. If they need assistance, they'll call."

"Of course they will," muttered Luna cynically.

"Just to be on the safe side, I've directed the Self-Defense Force to mobilize a unit to Niigata, in case they're needed. For now, we should let Uranus and Neptune handle it. They're on the front lines and can make such a judgment better than we can."

"Well, if you say so," Serenity sighed. "But I'm going to worry just the same." The Queen nibbled on a knuckle, something she did when she was pensive. "Maybe Rei could go over there, if she's not busy."

Endymion thought about it. "I can ask."

* * *

The Reventon pulled up beside the marsh. Uranus and Neptune got out of the car to a spontaneous round of cheers and applause. Glancing over, they saw a police line across the street. Behind the barricades were close to a hundred people, all there to see the Senshi, see the monster, or to be seen by those they saw as cool.

"This is new," smirked Neptune.

"Yeah, and Venus can keep it," grumbled Uranus. "I'd rather not have to perform in front of an audience."

"Yes, why do they let those people into the stands at those race tracks. It's so distracting," jabbed Neptune.

"You're begging for a kiss on the mouth," Uranus grunted. Neptune was pleased with herself for a moment, and then became all business. She summoned the Deep Aqua Mirror.

"Yes, I see it," Neptune said distantly, staring into the mirror as Uranus surveyed the marsh. "Oh my, it is big." She came out of her trance. "It's about eighty meters north, sunning itself on a rock near the ocean. Did you have a plan?"

"Try to herd it into a spot where it can't escape," Uranus replied. "See if it will answer questions - - find out if it took the Nobumura girl. If it did, take it down. If it won't answer, take it down."

"And if it didn't?"

"It still killed that student," Uranus replied coldly. "Don't get close to it. That thing is very fast and if it gets you in its coils, it won't be pretty. I was able to hurt it with the Space Sword. Your beam or your Violin Tide attack should work." They paused at the fence. "Ready?"

"Of course," Neptune told her.

Together they vaulted the fence. Even though they knew the nure-onna was eighty meters north of them, Uranus and Neptune each entered the overgrown marsh foliage with caution. Uranus summoned the Space Sword, while Neptune kept the mirror up and ready. The soft, mushy ground oozed around their feet.

"Oh, these heels are not made for this terrain," scowled Neptune.

"Can't you just wave your hands and clear out all the water?" Uranus asked, surveying the land ahead.

"I don't control water, I just inundate people with it," Neptune replied. "I'm tempted to go barefoot, but there's no telling what I might step on."

They continued on.

"Has it moved?" Uranus asked.

"I'll check," Neptune said and waved her hand over the face of the mirror. "No, it's still sunning itself. I thought snakes didn't like the sun."

"Most snakes usually don't have a woman's head," Uranus concluded.

When the pair passed by a thicket of marsh grasses, Uranus gestured with her hand. Neptune was to continue north while Uranus would circle around to the west. The hope was to bracket the creature so if it attacked one, the other could attack it. Uranus eased along the edge of the grasses in the open. She hoped the creature wouldn't notice her, but had no choice as being behind the grasses would have obscured her sight of Neptune and the creature.

It sat on a large rock, curled into a massive coil of snake body. The head seemed to loll back and forth, as if rocking to a song coming from the Sea of Japan itself. Uranus kept her eyes staring straight at it as she eased along the grasses. So far it took no notice of her. The creature almost seemed peaceful. But Uranus knew better; several gashes on its body spoke of previous encounters.

The unsure footing of the ground grew the further west Uranus went. She continued to ease along the grasses. Water and muck were approaching her ankles. Then she took a step and the earth gave way for a moment. Glancing down, Uranus steadied her foothold. She looked back up.

The nure-onna was looking directly at her.

"Come no further!" it hissed at her. "Leave this place or I will surely kill you!"

"Like you did that student this morning?" Uranus challenged, the Space Sword in her hand.

"He trespassed as well!" the nure-onna hissed. "This is my marsh! I claim it and I shall defend it!"

"Is he the only one you killed?" Uranus demanded.

"I will kill you if you persist," it hissed back. It began to rise up out of its coil, its body swaying back and forth like a cobra might when it was about to strike.

"Maybe three nights ago?" Uranus pressed the issue. "You decided to slither out of this cozy little marsh and do a little hunting? Like the corner down the street?"

"Fool!" spat the nure-onna. "You babble about things I know or care nothing about! You irritate me! Begone while you still have a chance!"

The creature uncoiled further and began slowly approaching Uranus. The Senshi stood her ground.

"And I say you do know something!" Uranus growled. "And I say you better start talking before I chop you up into snake steaks!" The creature hissed out a reply and bolted forward. "Space Sword Blaster!"

Energy arcs exploded into the soggy ground, kicking up mud and grass and water. The nure-onna pulled up short. Uranus could see it remembered the energy arcs and was wary of them.

"Now I'll ask one more time," Uranus said coldly, "and then I start chopping. Did you attack someone three nights ago?"

"You come into my home, attack me and then make demands upon me?" the creature hissed angrily. "You - - ARROGANT - - HUMAN!"

The nure-onna lunged at Uranus, but a swing of the Space Sword sent more energy arcs slicing across the creature's body. It recoiled, hissing in pain, then coiled again.

"Answer the question," Uranus rumbled.

"Would you believe my answer?" snapped the nure-onna. "Humans believe what they wish to believe! It doesn't matter what answer I give you! It won't stay your hand! You seek to destroy me, because it's what you humans do!"

"Yeah, I'm going to destroy you," Uranus replied. "Because you killed someone and that makes you a threat."

The nure-onna lunged again.

"SUBMARINE REFLECTION!" rang out across the marsh, followed by a crimson beam that impacted the snake body of the creature. Its head threw back and it howled in agony. Veering right, the creature shot across the sea edge, seeking to escape. Uranus surged after it.

Another crimson beam lanced out and struck the ground just ahead of it. The nure-onna reared up again. Turning, it saw Uranus charge. The snake creature lunged forward to attack, but Uranus swung the sword and hit it with cutting energy arcs. Turning wildly, the marsh creature tried to head north again, its aim a clump of brush. One more crimson beam shot out and cut its retreat off.

Turning, the creature tried to go east. Uranus cut off that route with another blast of energy arcs. Wildly the nure-onna turned and sped west, regrouping atop the rock it had been on before. Uranus charged in for the kill.

"You will not destroy me!" it bellowed, rearing up to strike. Uranus threw up more energy arcs that cut across the underside of the snake body. But the nure-onna didn't back down.

Fangs bared, the creature lunged to strike Sailor Uranus.

Continued in Chapter 8


	8. Who

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 8: "Who?"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

The nure-onna lunged at Sailor Uranus, desperate to defend itself against the two-pronged attack coming from Uranus and Sailor Neptune. Uranus stood her ground and let fly from the Space Sword with another set of energy arcs. The arcs cut savagely into the snake body of the creature. But the enraged nure-onna ignored the pain and drove forward. Uranus tried to give ground, but it was too fast for her. Sharp teeth emerged from the human head of the creature and clamped down on the Senshi's right forearm.

Uranus tries to pull away, but the creature would not release her. And in moments the snake body began to coil around her, pinning her arms to her sides. Uranus threw her head back and began to shout her power phrase, but the massive, muscular coils of the snake began to constrict around her, squeezing her chest so it couldn't expand and take in air. The Senshi tried to force the coils open, but the nure-onna was too strong and too leveraged. Uranus struggled for air that wouldn't come.

"Submarine Violin Tide!"

As she fought, Uranus heard the violin stroke. It was soft at first, but quickly expanded in pitch and volume until the sound reached critical mass. A sonic wave struck both Senshi and snake woman with all the violence of a category five hurricane. A wave of pain traveled through Uranus, but she endured it because she knew that the nure-onna was shielding her from the worst of it.

Finally the creature released its hold on her quarry's arm. The coils fell away limply and Uranus staggered away, getting a few feet from it before toppling to the soupy ground. Her entire being hurt, but she marshaled her attention and tried to focus on the location of the nure-onna. Rather than attack, the creature was limply slithering back toward the brush at the north edge of the clearing. To their right, Neptune was rushing in. The golden violin was gone, replaced by the Deep Aqua Mirror.

"Stop right there!" Neptune ordered, brandishing the mirror.

"No!" hissed the serpent creature. "I will not die by your hand, human! You will not slay me as you have slain so many of my kind!"

"I said stop!" Neptune roared. "Submarine Reflection!"

She fired another crimson beam from the face of the mirror. It struck just in front of the nure-onna, kicking up mud and water and bringing it up short. The creature turned on Neptune.

"DIE, HUMAN INVADER!" it roared as it reared up to strike.

Neptune fired another crimson beam at it. The beam struck it squarely below the head. The nure-onna was flung back by the force of the beam, over the rock and into the waters of the Sea of Japan. Splashing through the marshy soil, Neptune leaped up onto the rock the creature had been on and searched for it. When she was satisfied there would be no sighting of it, Neptune turned. She leaped down off the rock and ran over to Uranus.

"Uranus!" she gasped, kneeling and cradling her love. "Do you feel any numbness? Is it possible you were poisoned?"

"No," gasped Uranus, grimacing in pain. "Constrictor snakes aren't poisonous. Tore hell out of my arm, though."

"I'll get you to a hospital," Neptune assured her.

"Sure you don't just want to kiss it and make it better?" Uranus smiled feebly.

The corners of Neptune's mouth curled up. She shook her head and worked her way under her mate's arm. Lifting Uranus to her feet, Neptune supported her as they walked back toward the fence. As they went, Uranus began to regain some strength and coordination, enough to pull away and walk on her own two feet as they got in sight of the anticipating crowd. Her right arm dangled, wrapped in Neptune's kerchief. When they got to the fence, Neptune had to help Uranus over. The press waved to them, but the Senshi ignored them and got into the Reventon.

"We should stop by the police first and fill them in," Uranus said, sagging into the passenger seat. Then she grimaced.

"First we're getting you to a hospital," Neptune told her.

"Easy! Don't pop the clutch like that!" fussed Uranus.

"Uranus, I know how to drive," Neptune bristled. She eased the Reventon out into traffic.

"Think it's gone?" Uranus asked.

"I didn't see a body," Neptune replied. "But it is a mystical creature. Maybe there's no body to see. I'll have to ask Rei." They drove on.

"Look at the mud stains in this car," sighed Uranus. "It's going to be forever getting them out." Neptune let out an indulgent sigh.

In the hospital, Uranus was looked at by an attending emergency physician. As she worked, several hospital personnel crowded around the area to get a look at two of the famous Sailor Senshi.

"Severe muscle tears," the Emergency physician mumbled to a nurse. Neptune stood and watched because the physician didn't know if she could have her removed. "Puncture wounds; some of the ligaments will need to be repaired. Just what did this?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Uranus mumbled. Pain shot through her arm and she grimaced.

"How long will she be out of action, Doctor?" Neptune asked.

"It'll take a while for the wounds and repairs to the ligature to heal," the doctor told her. "And after that, months of physical therapy to get her arm to as close to what it was as we can. With damage like this, I can't guarantee she'll ever be one hundred percent."

"Just get her stable, Doctor," Neptune advised. "Healing will be our concern."

"Really? Why?" the doctor asked. "Do you Sailor Senshi have some sort of mystic healing power or something?"

"Or something," Neptune smiled. Then she grew serious. "Right now you need to close those wounds so she doesn't bleed out."

"I'm not going to bleed out," grumbled Uranus, then winced.

"Hush," Neptune hissed. "Our injuries as Senshi aren't permanent, but we can die if placed in the right circumstances."

"I understand," the doctor nodded. "Nurse, local and suture. And type and match blood." She glanced at Neptune. "You should wait outside."

Neptune seemed to waver. Then she reached down and clasped Uranus's hand. Uranus squeezed back weakly.

"I'll be just outside," Neptune said, then bent down and kissed her. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Uranus said.

* * *

"She's fine, Serenity," Michiru said over her cell phone.

She was sitting in a hospital room with Sailor Uranus, a reluctant guest of the hospital. After the emergency triage surgery, the doctor insisted Uranus stay overnight in case of possible complications. Neptune agreed over Uranus's feeble but persistent protests. Her phone has rung just after the country's national newscast had begun on TV Asahi and the Queen was on the other line.

"No, it's not necessary for you to come down here," Michiru told her over the phone. "The doctor said all of the damage to her arm had been repaired and the bleeding stopped." Michiru suddenly pulled the phone from her ear, grimacing, then brought it back. "It's an occupational hazard, Serenity. You take on giant nure-onnas, you can get bloodied. But I'm certain that once she reverts to Haruka and then back to Sailor Uranus, the damage will be gone. It's not necessary for you to come here and heal her."

"Let me talk to her," grumbled Uranus.

"Lay still," Michiru demanded, shooting daggers at her love. "Yes, Serenity, we're reasonably certain that the nure-onna is gone. But we're going to stay here just in case - - and to keep looking for that missing woman. If we need anything, we'll call you. Good-bye, Serenity."

"Should have let me talk to her," Uranus groused.

"Flirting with the Queen is not good for someone in your condition," Michiru responded. "You might say the wrong thing and get a shot in the ribs."

"If only I knew you were kidding," Uranus frowned.

At once the door burst open. Uranus and Michiru looked and found Junko framed in the doorway, a desperate look on her face.

"Haruka, what happened?" Junko gasped, running up to the hospital bed.

"Ran into Numachi No Kyuketsuki," Uranus shrugged. "It got a little dicey. Hey, if you think this is bad, you should have seen her."

"Stuff that 'tough-girl' talk!" snapped Junko. "You got hurt bad enough to end up in the hospital!"

"Comes with the job," Uranus replied. "I'm only here in case the doc didn't know what she was doing."

"She will be all right, Junko," Michiru assured her.

"So what about Numachi No Kyuketsuki?" Junko asked.

"Gone, as far as we can tell," Uranus told her. "Just - - stay clear of that marsh; just in case."

"Any sign of Kasumi?"

"Nothing," Uranus replied solemnly. "Not even bones. And I don't think that thing had anything to do with her disappearance. It don't really add up."

"So," Junko began suspiciously, "you are going to keep looking for her - - aren't you?"

"I said I would," Uranus said. "We haven't found her, so we're not done yet. Is this about walking out on you and her parents? You know this was more important, because that thing was a threat to a lot more people, right?"

Junko folded her arms over her chest and looked away. "I suppose," she muttered. "It's just - - when Michiru took off like that, it felt like she was saying Kasumi didn't matter."

"It's difficult seeing the big picture when you have a personal stake in what's occurring," Michiru offered. "As Senshi, sometimes we're forced to choose between evil befalling one and evil befalling many. It's never an easy choice."

"Yeah," Junko mumbled. The room fell silent for a few moments. "So, can I get you anything, Haruka?"

"All I want is you with a diploma in your hand," Uranus smiled. "Don't worry about me. I'll be out of here tomorrow morning even if I have to switch forms and sneak out."

There was a knock on the hospital door. Everyone looked up and found Detective Kinogura there.

"Is it gone?" the detective asked. "Tell me it's gone. I don't want to send men in there. Not if it could do that to someone like you."

"And you are?" Michiru asked with that penetrating gaze of hers.

"Detective Kinogura, ma'am," he replied. "And you?"

"Michiru Kaioh," Michiru responded. "Also Sailor Neptune."

Kinogura nodded. "So, is it gone?"

"We think so," Michiru told him, "but I need to consult with Tokyo to be certain."

"Until then, I'd keep everybody out of that marsh," Uranus said. "Unless you just want to napalm the whole place. That would probably get the job done."

"I'll take it under advisement," Kinogura replied and no one was sure if he was kidding or not.

"Any news on Nobumura-San?"

Kinogura glanced at Junko. "You're the roommate, aren't you? Now I see how the Senshi got involved in this. Must come in handy being related to a Senshi."

"I get by," Junko said defiantly and Michiru instantly recognized a memory she had of Haruka in her response.

"We executed the search of the apartment building," Kinogura explained. "We didn't find Nobumura-San, and we didn't find any evidence that she'd ever been there."

Junko turned to Uranus with a surprised look on her face.

"It was worth checking," Uranus scowled.

"So you don't think she was a victim of this - - marsh monster then?" Kinogura asked.

"It's not likely," Uranus shook her head.

"We'll know more after we consult with Tokyo," Michiru added.

"What you can do, Kinogura," Uranus spoke up. "Get any traffic camera pictures from the street bordering the marsh on the night she disappeared."

"I thought you said the monster wasn't a likely suspect," Kinogura puzzled.

"I'm looking for a vehicle that might have come out of that service road behind the restaurant," Uranus explained. "If you see one, Nobumura-San is probably in it and you need to find that vehicle." She sighed. "Or if you see the nure-onna out of its crib, you'll know I'm full of it."

"I'll check into it," Kinogura nodded. "Something like that is more along my line of work than battling mythological monsters. How long are you going to be laid up?"

"I'll be out tomorrow morning," Uranus assured him. "Want me to stop by and see what you come up with?"

"I'll call," Kinogura said. "Whenever you show up at the station, the press isn't far behind and we don't need the chaos."

Kinogura exited. Uranus glanced at Michiru and shrugged.

"I can see why," Michiru replied. "I know I want to follow you around."

"Haruka, what about this service road?" Junko demanded.

"Oh yeah," Uranus replied. She dug into a pouch in her Sailor fuku. "Recognize this?"

Uranus handed a stainless steel crucifix on a chain to Junko. The young woman examined it with growing horror.

"Kasumi always wore something like this," Junko said. "You found this on that service road?"

"Near that apartment building," Uranus nodded. "I figure someone grabbed Kasumi off of that corner, dragged her through a yard to that service road. From there, they either threw her in a vehicle or she's in one of those places along the service road."

"Then we need to search those places!" gasped Junko.

"Endymion wouldn't extend the search order past the apartment building," Uranus told her and got Junko's patented impatient look. "We're not storm troopers, Junko. We can't bust in on a bunch of innocent citizens because one of them MIGHT be guilty. That's not the way democracy works. It's infuriating sometimes, but it's something we need to make work as much as we can."

"And meanwhile Kasumi has to suffer who knows what?" Junko argued.

"I don't like it any more than you . . ."

"And there's an easier way," Michiru spoke up. They glanced at her. "Now that Numachi No Kyuketsuki is no longer in the picture to overwhelm my mirror, I can try to see where Kasumi is and possibly who has her."

"Michiru, you are the best!" exclaimed Junko.

"I always thought so," smiled Uranus.

* * *

"Did you see exactly what happened?" asked the reporter.

She was interviewing students who had been in the area during the battle in the marsh with the nure-onna. It was all she could think to do. The police, the Senshi and the government were all stonewalling her. The hospital wouldn't release any information. And because of that, her scoop was dying on the vine. She needed some information so it wouldn't get replaced as today's top story on the news cast.

"We couldn't see much because of the bushes," said one student, a gangly youth with glasses studying engineering. "But there were gaps and occasionally one of them would pass by the gap. We saw the blonde Senshi swing that sword of hers a couple of times."

"Did you see the monster?"

"I did," a chunky young male with shaggy brown hair spoke up. "It was a giant snake; had to be forty feet long, maybe more. And it had a woman's head! It was like something out of those nineteenth century paintings, you know?"

"Did you see whether they killed it?"

"Couldn't see. But I heard something scream and then a big splash. Maybe they killed it and threw it into the sea."

"Great! Thank you both!" the reporter exclaimed.

"Are we going to be on TV?" the chunky student asked. But the reporter was already hurrying back to her van.

* * *

Sailor Neptune sat next to the hospital bed of Sailor Uranus gazing into the Deep Aqua Mirror. Uranus and Junko both watched her with unflinching concentration. She had been in a deep trance for several minutes now. Each passing second grated on Junko's nerves like sandpaper. Uranus wasn't much better, but she was much better at concealing her irritation. Every once in a while Uranus would get the irrational thought that Neptune would go into a trance looking in that mirror and never come out of it. She didn't trust that mirror; but then she didn't trust a lot of things. The only reason she didn't act on her irrationality was that she trusted Michiru.

"Does it usually take this long?" Junko asked softly, so as not to disturb Neptune.

"It can," Uranus advised her. She understood Junko's impatience. It mirrored her own.

At once the green-haired Senshi slumped forward, the mirror falling into her lap. Junko shot forward and braced the woman.

"Are you OK?" Junko gasped.

"Oh, that was draining," Neptune wheezed. "I'll be fine, Junko. But thank you for your concern."

"See anything?" Uranus asked.

"Yes," Neptune nodded, still visibly exhausted. "Numachi No Kyuketsuki." She looked up at them both with a steely gaze. "It isn't dead."

Continued in Chapter 9


	9. Is She Dead?

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 9: "Is She Dead?"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

It was evening in Niigata. Michiru Kaioh sat on the sofa in Junko Tenoh's apartment, watching the evening news lead with the sensational story that a nure-onna lurked in the city. A station reporter was interviewing two students who claimed they'd seen portions of the battle between Sailor Uranus and the creature dubbed "Numachi No Kyuketsuki" by local legend. It was not news she wanted to get out.

She thought of Haruka, stuck for the evening in a local hospital with injuries from the fight. If Haruka was watching as well, she could imagine the woman's temperament.

Junko entered the room carrying a tray with some soup and sandwiches. She set the tray down on a table in front of the sofa and joined her sister's lover on the sofa.

"So what now?" Junko asked anxiously.

"If Numachi No Kyuketsuki is still alive, we have to find it," Michiru told her as gently as she could. "It's proven to be a threat."

Junko deflated.

"I know you're still worried about Nobumura-San," Michiru offered. "The police are still working on it, and Haruka and I can multi-task."

"Yeah," sighed the twenty-one year old. Once again Michiru saw so many similarities to Haruka at that age. "I just - - worry so much that by the time everyone is done chasing this monster - - that it's going to be too late to save Kasumi. If it's not already too late."

What to say? Try to gloss over her legitimate fears and fill her with false hope, or be blunt and honest and crush her? Because Michiru knew that the odds of finding Kasumi dimmed with each hour that passed, that it could be years before anyone located her - - or it might never happen.

Fortunately for Michiru, her Senshi Communicator signaled. As she opened it, Junko leaned in and listened intently.

"Sorry I'm only just now returning your call," a voice came from the communicator, a voice Junko recognized as Rei Hino. "Some things came up. I just saw the news reports out of there. Was it an actual nure-onna?"

"Fifty foot snake body with the head of a woman," Michiru replied. "A head with very sharp teeth, I might add."

"Fifty feet," Rei mused. "That one's been around for a long time; two hundred years at least." Michiru and Junko glanced at each other. "You said in your earlier message that it killed someone? Was the person trespassing on its territory?"

"He was. Is that significant?"

"Nure-onna, particularly older nure-onna, are very territorial. They frequent coasts or marshy areas, sunning themselves by day and dipping in the water to cool themselves at night. And they've never been very friendly to humans. They try to stick to areas where there aren't any. I would imagine that the encroachment of civilization has only deepened their mistrust and animosity. But the victim probably surprised it."

"Rei, are they capable of leaving their territory and attacking humans?" Michiru asked the priest.

"I suppose they're capable of it, if properly motivated," Rei responded. "It's not something they like doing. Nure-onna shy from humans, just like most wild animals do. But if they have sufficient cause, they will."

"And would they drag a person back to their territory if they did?"

"I see where you're going," Rei said. "You're talking about that missing student. No, a nure-onna would not drag a human back to their territory, living or dead. If they attacked a human, a nure-onna would asphyxiate its victim by constricting the person in its coils, then use its teeth to rip open the neck and drink its blood. Once sated, the nure-onna would discard the corpse on the spot and slither away."

"Then there's no possible way it could have grabbed Kasumi," Junko concluded out loud.

"Is that Junko?" Rei asked. "I'm sorry, Junko, but the nure-onna is not your culprit here."

"Wow," Junko sighed. "I don't know whether to be happy or angry."

"Be happy," Rei said. "At least now there's some hope that your friend is still alive." Michiru nodded. "I understand you and Uranus engaged this."

"Yes. We thought we killed it, but my mirror tells me I'm wrong," Michiru answered.

"The best way to kill a nure-onna is to behead it," Rei explained. "That's really dangerous, given how quick they are and how little they think of humans. But it's the surest way. Michiru, do you want me to come out there? If this nure-onna is enraged, you might need me."

"Well, Haruka is pretty set on doing this herself," Michiru explained. "If the situation changes, I'll call you. Thank you for everything you've provided me, Rei."

"Happy to do it. You two take care. Haruka can be a little too cocky sometimes." And the connection severed.

"She's got that right," Junko muttered. Picking up the remote, Junko switched the channel on the television to a period drama. "You and Haruka going after that thing tomorrow morning?"

"If Haruka doesn't have any setbacks," Michiru said. "Don't you have a final tomorrow?" Junko shrugged. "If you like, I can help you study for it."

"I don't know," Junko sighed. "Between worrying about Kasumi and worrying about Haruka and worrying about this nure-onna, I don't know if it'll do any good."

"It can't hurt," Michiru advised her. "And maybe it will get your mind off of things for a while. You can't do anything else tonight. Use your time constructively."

"OK," the girl surrendered. Michiru felt another pang of familiarity.

* * *

The residents of west campus looked up from their morning treks to and from finals, to and from the bookstore or to and from celebratory gatherings. They saw a helicopter flying overhead. A few watched, fascinated; most dismissed it, for the police, the hospitals and the local media all used helicopters in their business.

This, though, was a private helicopter, rented from the airport in Niigata for a specific use. Piloting the craft was Haruka Tenoh. Sitting next to her, peering onto the ground with binoculars, was Michiru Kaioh. They were headed for the marsh that ran between west campus and the Sea of Japan.

"So Rei said that the nure-onna was out as a suspect, huh?" Haruka asked as she expertly guided the copter over the marsh.

"Emphatically," Michiru responded. "If it had been our culprit, we would have found Nobumura-San's desiccated body by now."

"I thought so," Haruka nodded. "The pieces didn't point to the nure-onna. It just didn't fit."

"Look at you," Michiru smiled. "Perhaps you missed your calling, Haruka. Maybe you should have been a detective."

"Too slow," scowled the blonde woman. "And too many rules. But yeah, I'm kind of surprising myself. I always thought I was just being street smart. Maybe I do see logical patterns. Of course, I'm no Ami."

"Who is?"

"How did Junko take the news?"

"Glad that a monster didn't have her friend for breakfast," Michiru commented, "but at the same time disappointed that the mystery continues. She's beyond ready to have done with it. I imagine Nobumura-San's parents are, too."

"If someone jumped up this minute and screamed 'I did it', I'd be happy," Haruka replied. "It's frustrating. I've reconstructed so much of what happened, but there's still so much more that's hidden." She sighed. "I never had the patience for puzzles." She glanced at Michiru. "Except maybe for you."

"Was I a puzzle to you?" Michiru asked, amused.

"A puzzle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma," Haruka grinned self-consciously. "The biggest puzzle being how you could go for someone like me. These days I don't wonder anymore. I'm just grateful."

Michiru glanced at her with misty eyes.

"Coming up on the marsh," Haruka said.

Michiru brought the binoculars up to her eyes. Haruka circled the helicopter in from the south and began circling the marsh. Each swing would take them a degree north. The craft's speed was slow enough to search the marsh without compromising their ability to remain aloft.

"See anything?" Haruka asked.

"No sign of the nure-onna," Michiru replied. "There are some indentations in the grass, but I can't tell how old they are from up here."

"Maybe it got smart and left," Haruka proposed.

"No. It's here," Michiru said, "but 'here' is a pretty wide expanse."

"And the mirror couldn't be more specific?"

"Not beyond the general location. The physical aura of this creature seems to hamper the abilities of the mirror. I'm sure Rei could explain it better."

They flew on, circling over the marsh from above. Each pass was just a little farther north. Haruka concentrated on her instruments and her flight path. Michiru watched from above for some sign that their quarry was there.

"This thing must be really dug in," Haruka observed.

"It might also be wounded and laying low out of a need to heal," Michiru commented. "We both got in some pretty good shots. In that state, anything would seek a safe place where it couldn't be attacked."

"Another reason to just napalm the place," Haruka muttered. "Of course, Dumpling would flip out."

"And it would be a waste," Michiru added. "To destroy a beautiful wetland like this just to kill one creature seems like an overreaction."

The search continued. Eventually the entire marsh had been searched twice and they had nothing to show for it.

"I'm getting low on fuel," Haruka said. "I'm going to head back."

"Do we try again later?" Michiru asked.

"Do you think we'll get better results? We need to get this creature before someone else runs up against it. But I do not relish the thought of going in there on foot again."

"Well, it's nearly eleven. Junko should be finished with her last final. We can all enjoy the fine lunch YOU'RE going to treat her to."

"I'm treating, huh?" Haruka glanced at her. "Know any good ramen stands around here?"

* * *

Lunch began at loggerheads. Junko wanted fast food. Michiru adamantly refused. Haruka didn't care so long as they ate soon. The debate began to grow heated, as the famous Tenoh stubborn streak reared up from young Junko. As a peace offering, Haruka suggested the Chinese restaurant where Kasumi had worked. She knew both disputants had eaten there and enjoyed themselves.

Instantly, though, she'd regretted the suggestion upon seeing Junko grimace. But Junko put on a brave front and agreed, so Michiru acquiesced to achieve peace and Haruka mentally kicked herself. By the time they arrived, guilt and worry had been supplanted by curiosity.

"So, did you see the monster?" Junko asked with the usual excitement she had concerning her sister's life as a Senshi.

"My, this shrimp just gets better every time I eat it," Michiru marveled. She seized a piece with chopsticks. "Taste this, Haruka."

"Michiru!" fumed Junko.

"No, we didn't see it," Haruka confessed. Michiru put the piece of shrimp in her own mouth. "We figure it might be wounded and laying low."

"So what now?" Junko asked.

"Haven't thought that far ahead yet," Haruka replied. "I really want to hear if Detective Kinogura found anything on those traffic cameras. If he did, Numachi No Kyuketsuki might have to wait a little."

"Given what Rei told us, that might be the safest course for now," Michiru nodded. "But we're going to have to deal with it eventually."

Just then, the owner of the restaurant approached. Haruka looked him over suspiciously, having never met him. But Junko and Michiru greeted him.

"Please pardon interruption," the older man began, bowing. "I apologize for ruining meal, but I must know. Is there any word on Kasumi-Chan?"

"Not yet, Oto-San," Michiru replied gently. "We're closer, but we haven't found her yet."

"Sad," he whispered. "My youngest - - she just cries anymore. She misses Kasumi-Chan so much." He bowed again. "Again, forgive interruption."

"Poor guy," Haruka mumbled.

"I know how he feels," Junko said. "Haruka, you're sure it happened the way you think it did?"

"Pretty sure," Haruka nodded. "She left at the usual time. The one homeless guy saw her on the corner. The other one saw her pulled into the shadows."

"You believe it's a demon?" Junko asked.

"No. But this guy was probably half drunk and kind of loopy besides. What if he saw someone lean out of that big bush, grab Kasumi and pull her in? That spot is shielded from the streetlight, so it's pretty dark from far away. In his physical and mental state, he could believe that it was some 'shadow demon'."

"So she's abducted off of the street," Michiru continued the narrative, "dragged through that yard you describe to the service road. She loses her crucifix on the hedge. Then?"

"Then I don't know," scowled Haruka. "If there's traffic camera footage of a vehicle coming out of that service road about that time, that's where she went. If not, she's got to be in one of the buildings along that road."

"Couldn't the person who grabbed her drag her down to the main street by the marsh and further down the street?" Junko asked.

"Maybe. It would increase the odds of being spotted," Haruka replied. "That would show up on the traffic camera, too."

"So until we find out what's on the camera . . .?"

"If anything, we're stopped," Haruka finished her sentence. "Unless some new evidence pops up."

"Now I'm beginning to wish I'd taken criminology," Junko said. Both Haruka and Michiru smiled.

"So how do you think you did on your final?" Haruka asked.

"Who cares," sighed Junko. "I just want to find Kasumi."

"You should care," Haruka told her. "Take it from someone who never finished high school - - you should care."

"Does she throw guilt at you, too, or is it just me?" Junko moaned to Michiru.

"Just you, I'm afraid," Michiru smiled slyly. "She knows better than to try that on me."

"Oh yeah?" Haruka leered. "I'll try something on you tonight."

Michiru didn't respond verbally. But Junko noticed Michiru's body shift slightly, as if she'd done something under the table. Haruka reacted to something and Junko could only wonder what. Then Haruka's phone went off and playtime ceased.

"Yeah, Kinogura-San?" Haruka said. She listened and her two companions listened as well. "OK. Yeah, we searched the whole marsh and found nothing. But it's still in there, so you need to keep people out." She listened to the response. "I'll keep you posted. Let me know if there's anything we can do to help you." And she closed the phone somberly. Michiru recognized the expression Haruka had, but Junko didn't.

"Was that about the traffic camera?" Junko asked.

"Yeah," Haruka frowned. "Nothing. They examined it for two hours on either side of ten p.m.; a couple of pedestrians, a couple of cars, and get this: our nure-onna gliding along the fence for a few seconds around ten. But nothing came out of that service road."

"So Nobumura-San has to be in one of those buildings," Michiru concluded.

"Unless she really was spirited away by a shadow demon," Haruka said. "But which one?"

"You suppose the nure-onna would know?" Junko asked. Haruka and Michiru both looked at her. Clearly they hadn't considered it. "Well, it was slithering along the fence just about that time. Maybe it saw her. Maybe it saw who had her. Maybe it saw where they went?"

Haruka smiled. "Maybe you should have taken that criminology class. Nice thinking, Junko." Her sister's chest swelled with pride.

"I doubt our nure-onna is going to be in a very talkative mood, though," sighed Michiru. "Assuming we find it."

Spurred by Haruka staring out the front window of the restaurant, Junko and Michiru followed her line of sight. They could see several people running past the windows of the restaurant, all headed west.

"What's got them excited?" Junko wondered.

"Maybe Numachi No Kyuketsuki decided it's healed enough," Haruka said as she bolted out of her chair.

Michiru and Junko quickly followed her. Out on the street, they looked west toward the marsh. A woman was standing in front of the chain link fence guarding the marsh. A man was on one side of her, trying to pull her away, while a police officer had her other arm. The TV film crew was getting footage for the evening news.

"That's Mrs. Nobumura!" Junko gasped.

Hurrying down the street, the trio couldn't make out what she was yelling at first. As they got nearer, they could.

"GIVE ME BACK MY DAUGHTER!" Mrs. Nobumura screamed. She fought to escape the grip of the two men trying to drag her away from the fence. "I WANT MY DAUGHTER! GIVE HER BACK!" Then she went limp, sinking to the pavement, held up only by the police officer and her husband. "Give her back . . ."

Continued in Chapter 10


	10. Snake Charmer

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 10: "Snake Charmer"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

When Mrs. Nobumura collapsed in the street, Junko broke into a run to get to her. Haruka followed protectively while Michiru looked around, searching the area for something suspicious. By the time Haruka arrived, Junko and Mr. Nobumura were supporting the collapsed woman while she cried bitterly.

"Nobumura-San, please get hold of yourself," Junko pleaded. "You're not doing Kasumi any good doing this."

"Yes, you have to stay strong," her husband added hopefully, "for Kasumi's sake."

"But she's in there!" wailed Mrs. Nobumura. "In the clutches of that monster! She could be suffering who knows what tortures at its hands! Or she could be dead!"

"She's not in there, Nobumura-San!" Junko told her. "The monster didn't get her!"

"How do you know?" gasped Mrs. Nobumura, her eyes wide and wild.

"She's not," Haruka said, calmly and firmly. "We've determined that the creature in there had nothing to do with it."

"Who are you?" Mrs. Nobumura demanded, struggling to her feet. Junko and Mr. Nobumura tried to hold her back, but she shoved right up in Haruka's face. Haruka stood her ground.

"That's my sister," Junko told her.

"The Senshi?" the woman exclaimed. Her hysteria morphed into anger. "WHY HAVEN'T YOU FOUND MY DAUGHTER?"

"We're doing everything we can," Haruka replied stonily.

"THAT'S WHAT THE POLICE TELL ME! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFERENT! YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO PROTECT US ALL! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO MAKE MIRACLES HAPPEN!"

"I'm not a miracle worker," Haruka glared. "I'm just someone who won't stop looking until I find her."

"And when will that be? WHEN SHE'S DEAD?"

All this time, the woman's husband was trying to ease her away. Finally she gave in and the pair headed off. Tipped off by Junko's glance, Haruka turned and found the television reporter and her photographer behind her.

"Has the monster be cleared of this disappearance?" she asked. "And do you still intend to kill it? Can you make a statement?"

"You want a statement?" Haruka rumbled. "Stop invading that poor woman's grief just so you can goose your ratings with other people's tragedies!"

"You know, Sailor Venus is a lot more accessible than you are," she replied sourly. The reporter made a hand slash across her throat, signaling her photographer to stop recording. As they walked away, Michiru approached.

"She's just doing her job, Haruka," Michiru cautioned.

"Yeah, and a tick is just doing its job, too," Haruka replied. "But I don't want it on my leg."

"So now what?" Junko asked.

"I don't know, Junko," Haruka grumbled. "Right now I'm fresh out of miracles." She began to head back toward the Chinese restaurant to where the Reventon was parked. "Maybe we should just turn this all over to Dumpling and the Senshi. Dumpling could probably find Kasumi just by wishing hard."

"It's possible," Michiru said. "If you feel that you've gone as far as you can go with this, perhaps a fresh perspective can see or do something we can't."

"You two aren't going to quit, are you?" gasped Junko.

"That's up to Haruka," Michiru said. "I'm willing to go on, but not if Haruka isn't. So, Haruka?"

Haruka paused at the Reventon and exhaled with frustration.

"This isn't one of your better pep talks, you know," Haruka muttered.

"It was short notice," Michiru smiled. "There is still an avenue left to investigate. And you know no one else is equipped to investigate that avenue except us."

"Confront the nure-onna," Haruka sighed.

"And either get the truth from it, or kill it so it doesn't harm anyone else," Michiru stated coldly.

"But if you kill it," Junko asked, "we lose whatever it knows about Kasumi, don't we?"

"We would," Michiru nodded. "Getting it to talk is the priority, but the threat it poses to ourselves and to others can't be ignored. If we can't make it talk, and we have a clear shot to kill it, we have to do it."

"But . . .!"

"Michiru's right," Haruka scowled. "If we can't get it to talk, we take it out. If that happens, we'll just have to find Kasumi some other way."

"Do you have to make decisions like this all the time?" Junko asked, trying to hide her shock.

"Sometimes," Haruka said, then climbed into the driver's seat of the Reventon.

"Maybe it's a good thing I'm not a Senshi," Junko mumbled. "So where are you going now?"

"I'm going to drop you off at your apartment and then confront that thing," Haruka told her. "I'd like to do it while it's still light."

"You don't have to do that!" Junko protested.

"I want you safe," Haruka told her. "Get in."

"You don't have to watch out for me!" snapped Junko. "I can look out for myself! And as long as I stay outside the fence, I'm not in any danger!"

"Junko, don't argue with me," Haruka glared.

"You might need me there in case something goes wrong! I could call the police or the palace or something! Haruka, don't shut me out!"

Michiru leaned in to the driver's seat window.

"I know you want to protect her," Michiru told Haruka. "But she has a point, too. And we really shouldn't be spending time arguing about it. We don't know how long it's going to take to root out that nure-onna. The sooner we start, the better."

Haruka stared ahead silently, not wanting to give in, but unable to come up with a counter that would sway Michiru. Finally she exhaled and climbed out of the Reventon.

"All right," Haruka grumbled. "Honestly, I ought to take you over my knee, Junko."

"I'd like to see you try it," Junko responded, her jaw jutting out.

The trio walked back to the marsh. With Junko safely stationed on the other side of the street, Haruka and Michiru changed into their Senshi forms and leaped the fence. Summoning their talismans, the pair ventured cautiously into the brush.

"Got anything?" Uranus asked. Neptune consulted the mirror.

"I see the nure-onna," Neptune replied, going briefly into a trance. "But there's so much jungle that I can't recognize where it is." She came out of it and looked at her partner. "It is in hiding, trying to recuperate. I can see several wounds on it."

"Guess we'll have to do it the hard way."

Further into the marsh the pair trekked, Uranus using the Space Sword as a machete. There was no need for stealth now. They wanted to be found, wanted the nure-onna to know they were there. As they moved, caution was the by-word to guard against being flanked by the creature. They were slow and meticulous, but the two Senshi moved inexorably through the marsh, headed north.

At once, Uranus stopped and fumbled for something in the pouch on her fuku. Neptune looked at her curiously and saw her partner pull out a cell phone.

"I want to check in with Junko," Uranus explained. "See if she's all right, and let her know we're all right."

"I'll keep watch," Neptune said, giving the Senshi one of her maddening amused glances.

"Haruka?" Junko gasped over the phone. "Did you find the nure-onna yet?"

"Not yet," Uranus replied. "Just checking on how you're doing. Anything cooking out there?"

"Well, the police are still here," Junko reported. "And a few gawkers. The TV van left."

"Good to hear," Uranus said. "Call me if anything changes. I'll check in about ten minutes from now."

"Told you that you needed me," Junko responded and hung up. Uranus scowled.

"Mouthy kids," the Senshi grumbled. Neptune smothered a smile.

They continued on. Stepping around a patch of peat made from dead and decaying plants, the Senshi pair moved steadily forward. Occasionally Neptune would pause and consult the mirror. It could give her nothing concrete, but Neptune gained the sense that they were close. Soon they approached a thicket of trees and marsh grasses. Peat hung from the tree limbs, while moss covered the trunks. Uranus looked at Neptune and got a return glance that was as unsure as hers was.

"I'd hate to go in there," Uranus said. "It would be the perfect place for an ambush."

"But it's also the perfect place for a creature like that to hide and recuperate," Neptune countered. She brought up the mirror. "I'll see if I can get any new visions."

Waving her hand across the face of the mirror, Neptune went into a light trance. As she stared, Uranus crouched and scanned the area with her eyes, ready for any eventuality. The soft soil gave under her and the Senshi wondered if it would hamper her reactions.

"Uranus!" Neptune exclaimed. "It's here - - in that thicket."

She took a step forward.

"We just want to talk!" Neptune called into the clump of trees and brush. "I know we've been enemies in the past! We have little reason to trust each other! But right now, we only want to ask you some questions! And if you cooperate, perhaps we can negotiate a settlement that will be acceptable to both of us!"

Uranus glanced at Neptune, surprised. This wasn't the original plan. Was Neptune lying to the creature to lure it out, or had she come to some conclusion that this was the best means to handle it?

"We will come in after you if we have to!" Neptune continued. "It will benefit us both if you talk to us!"

"You humans have nothing to say that I might wish to hear!" hissed a voice from the bushes. "Go, now, and I will allow you to leave unharmed! Come after me and it will be the quickest means to your deaths!"

"The community has made a mistake!" Neptune called out. "They believe you to have killed a young woman several days ago! We know that's not the case! And we believe you may know who did take her! Allow us to question you so we may show the community their mistake!"

"And they will leave me be?" hissed from the bushes. "I am not that naive! They will come for me because they fear me! And well they should! I am the wronged here and I will reclaim my peace!"

"You killed a student!" roared Uranus.

"The human trespassed upon my territory!" the voice hissed back. "I defended what has been mine for over a hundred years! And I shall kill again to defend what is mine! And if you do not go, I will kill you!"

"Cooperate with us!" Neptune shouted. "Otherwise we will kill you to defend ourselves! Cooperate and spare your life!"

Bursting from the thicket, the nure-onna charged Sailor Neptune. The Senshi, startled by the speed of the wounded creature, took a step back. She brought the mirror up to fire.

"World Shaking!" Uranus bellowed.

The force blast ripped up marsh grassed as it sped toward the nure-onna. It impacted with the head and upper body, flinging the creature back twenty feet. It landed with a splash in grasses and ankle deep water. The impact dazed the creature and it struggled to act. But the two Senshi didn't pursue the attack.

"We're just here to talk," Uranus rumbled. "But try that again and I smack you down again."

The nure-onna eyed them suspiciously, but didn't move from its spot. Then everyone heard a cell phone ring.

* * *

Junko leaned against a wall enclosing the yard of a residence, both for support and for the shade it provided. As the afternoon wore on, the shade was shrinking as the sun passed overhead. To keep from worrying about Uranus, who had just called a few minutes ago, she looked around.

The last time she'd looked at the two police officers, stationed across from the marsh to keep people from entering, they were waiting as aimlessly as she was. Glancing back, Junko saw that they were involved now with several older men. The men looked like townies, the name the students used to refer to local residents of the area. She couldn't hear what was being said, but she could see them becoming more and more animated. Junko assumed that they wanted something done about "the monster" in the marsh.

"Haruka is trying," she thought to herself. "Why don't you people give her a break and let her work? I know you're scared."

The conversation was becoming heated. One of the officers had his hand on his baton. A townie pointed at the marsh.

"Where were you people when Kasumi disappeared?" Junko thought. "Oh, who cares about some college student. But when its your safety on the line, all of a sudden you want action and you want it now. People."

Finally the police convinced the group of men to move off. The one officer pulling his baton helped convince them. They moved away and once they passed the wall Junko couldn't see them. But the police on duty began to relax, so she took it as a sign to relax as well.

"Eight minutes," Junko mumbled to herself after checking her watch. "What if she doesn't check in? Do you even know who to call in the palace? I don't think they'll just put you through to Queen Serenity." Junko made a few swipes on her phone. "Wow, I didn't know the palace had a hotline. Guess I'll call that."

With mounting fear and waning patience, Junko watched the seconds tick off on her watch. When it went from ten minutes to eleven, she hit the icon to call Haruka.

"Kind of busy," came the terse response. "We're OK."

"Did you find it?" Junko asked.

But the call severed. Junko expelled a frustrated sigh. She found herself wishing once more that she could shout a power phrase and change into a Senshi just like Haruka and face what they were facing.

Movement caught her eye. The men from earlier burst from the service road and ran across the street. The police started after them and in a moment Junko could see why. Each man had a bottle filled with clear liquid and a rag stuffed in the top. The clear liquid had to be something flammable. The first man reached the fence, lit the rag and then heaved the bottle into the heart of the marsh.

Junko hit the icon to call Haruka again.

* * *

"Kind of busy," Uranus said over her phone as she warily watched the nure-onna. "We're OK." She closed the phone and slipped it into the pouch in her fuku.

"Three nights ago," Neptune began, her mirror down but ready to use, "someone came out of the road across the street. This person was with a woman, perhaps dragging or carrying her. Where did they go? Can you tell us?"

"And if I tell you?" the nure-onna asked, venomous eyes locked on the green-haired Senshi. "What will you do?"

"Reclaim the woman," Neptune stated. "She was taken against her will. She must be freed and the person who took her must be punished."

"I care not for these people," the creature scowled. "I care only that I am persecuted for his crime. I care only that his actions have exposed me and that humans seek to destroy me. How will that change if I tell you?"

"So you did see someone and it was a man," the Senshi observed. "We will tell everyone that he is the culprit," Neptune replied slyly, "and not a fairy tale created to scare little children, but which could not possibly be real."

"They will not believe you," the nure-onna contended. "They seek to destroy me because they fear me. That one even now seeks my head," and it nodded toward Uranus. "How can you guarantee my safety?"

"We could relocate you," Neptune offered. "Take you away from here to some place where you're not known to exist."

"Who would agree to that? I do not have to read thoughts to know that one still seeks vengeance for the life I took earlier. No, I will not answer your questions. I think that is the only thing keeping me alive at this point." The creature turned to slither back into the thicket. "Do not follow me or I shall surely kill you."

"World Shaking!" Uranus bellowed angrily. The force blast gouged a path across the marsh, cutting off the nure-onna's retreat and blasting a hole in the thicket of trees and bushes. The nure-onna turned back to her, ready for an attack. "We're not done with you yet. Answer the question."

"Or you will slay me?" hissed the creature. "You'll slay me regardless! You humans can do nothing else but destroy!" The snake body coiled and the part with the human head rose up to strike. "Try! I may fall this day, but I will exact a terrible price on you for the attempt!"

Uranus was about to charge, but Neptune stopped her. She glanced at her partner and saw Neptune sniffing at the air.

"Do you smell smoke?" Neptune whispered.

With the pair momentarily distracted, the nure-onna lunged. Uranus swatted at it with the Space Sword while both Senshi jumped out of the way. Uranus let loose with another force blast, but the creature dodged it and slithered into the thick brush.

"Come on!" Uranus barked, ready to pursue.

"Wait!" Neptune cautioned. She pointed to black smoke rising from the marsh. "Look!"

Then the cell phone went off again. Uranus brought it to her ear.

"Some men threw some bottles with flaming wicks into the marsh!" Junko exclaimed. "I think they're trying to burn the thing out!"

Continued in Chapter 11


	11. Loose In The City

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 11: "Loose In The City"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

At the launch of the first crude gasoline bomb, Junko was on the phone to Sailor Uranus. Moments later Uranus picked up and Junko shouted a warning to her. While they were engaged, three more gas bombs were tossed over the fence and into the marsh. As black smoke began billowing from behind the thick brush in the marsh, the two police officers on duty grabbed two of the assailants and threw them to the pavement. One cuffed a suspect while the other sat on the other assailant's back and radioed for back up.

Junko's next call was to the fire department.

"Junko says some guys tossed flaming bottles over the fence," Uranus reported. "Probably Molotov Cocktails."

"We need to find that area and put it out!" Neptune exclaimed.

"What about the nure-onna?" Uranus protested. "It's going to get away!"

"It can't be helped," Neptune said and started forward. But she stopped and looked back when Uranus didn't accompany her.

"What's the problem?" Uranus demanded. "So what if they lobbed a few bottles of sake in here? Half of this place is under water!"

"And if it's gasoline? If those bombs ignite the dry peat that's all over this marsh, it'll catch everything that's above the water line!" Neptune told her. "If we don't stop it, this whole marsh will go up! And the embers could catch the buildings across the street on fire!"

Of course Neptune was right. And to Uranus, the possibility of it being gasoline made it different.

They arrived back at the south end of the marsh. It was worse than they thought. One of the gas bombs had impacted with a tree and the entire tree was engulfed. Dry peat had ignited and in turn ignited everything around it. As Neptune had said, everything on or below the water line was safe. But in the few minutes it had taken them to arrive, roughly half of the southern end of the marsh was involved and a southerly breeze was wafting hot embers north to catch more of the marsh on fire.

"Deep Submerge!" Neptune shouted, throwing back her shoulders.

"No!" Uranus shouted and lunged for her, trying to stop her.

It was too late. A huge wave of water kicked up from the Sea of Japan and swamped the area, except for where Uranus and Neptune stood, inundating it with sea water. But rather than drown the fire, Neptune's action only spread it to more parts of the marsh east and north of the sea.

"I don't understand," Neptune gasped.

"You don't use water to put out a gasoline fire!" Uranus told her. "The fumes are what's burning and water only spreads the fumes and the gas!" The Senshi pointed her hands at the ground directly in front of them. "World Shaking!"

Her force bubble slammed into the ground and kicked up clumps of mushy earth and grass. The force of the impact threw the clumps onto the burning bushes, covering them and smothering the gas fumes. Several more blasts had the low lying bushes covered and put out.

"Space Sword Blaster!" Uranus shouted next, producing the Space Sword and throwing energy arcs at the burning trees whose tops were too high for her dirt clumps to reach. The arcs severed the tree trunks and sent the burning tops plummeting to the ground. More force blasts kicked dirt onto the severed trees and extinguished them.

"How did you know?" Neptune asked.

"You race cars as long as I have," panted Uranus, "you learn how to put out fuel fires."

Though the south end of the marsh was extinguished, the fire had spread farther north and was still burning. Seeing that Uranus was tiring rapidly, Neptune jammed her hand into the pouch under Uranus's skirt and came out with the cell phone. She pressed the icon for Junko.

"Are you two still in there?" Junko cried over the phone. "Get out! Or are you trapped?"

"We're all right," Neptune assured her. "But this fire is getting beyond us. Has someone called the fire department?"

"Yeah, they're here!" Junko reported. "But they won't go in!"

Neptune quickly informed Uranus. The pair headed for the fence. As Junko had told them, several fire trucks were on the street outside the marsh. A truck with an extension arm and a mounted water cannon was among them and the truck was setting up. Uranus hopped the fence and ran over to the battalion chief.

"What's the hold up?" Uranus barked. "That marsh is going to be completely engulfed in minutes!"

"We're going as fast as we can," he informed her. "You don't set one of these things up in five seconds."

"Well in the mean time can't you get some men in there with shovels or something?"

"I'm not sending anyone into that marsh and risk them being attacked by that monster!" the battalion chief snapped.

"And if that marsh burns up in the mean time?"

"Right now my priority is to see that no humans are affected," he told her.

Uranus wanted to argue, but deep down she knew he had a point. Neptune's hand on her shoulder confirmed her hesitation.

"It's a gasoline fire," Uranus told the battalion chief. "Just so you know."

"Right," he nodded. He turned to the other firefighters. "Load in the chemical foam!"

Spotting Junko, Uranus headed away from the trucks and across the street, Neptune following. Junko met her half way.

"Are you OK?" Junko asked.

"A little tired is all," Uranus responded.

"Did you find out anything about Kasumi?"

"No," Uranus grumbled. "The nure-onna wouldn't talk. And before I could make it talk, those gasoline bombs hit." She ground her teeth. "I'd like to find the morons who pulled that little stunt."

"They're over there in that police car," Junko scowled and nodded to the car waiting across the street by the service road. Immediately Uranus headed that way.

"Uranus!" Neptune called out and tried to intercept her. But Uranus reached the car first. One of the officers blocked her path to the car while two handcuffed men sat inside. Uranus allowed it.

"Nice little stunt you pulled!" Uranus roared at the car. "Did it make you feel like a couple of big heroes?"

"We're not going to live with a monster in our midst!" one of the men shot back through the window of the car.

"Yeah? Well that 'monster' was happy to stay in that marsh and not bother anyone!" Uranus roared back. "But there isn't a marsh anymore! That means it's going to be slithering through your neighborhood now, genius!"

"Well if you had killed it, we wouldn't have needed to act!" argued the man.

"And if you had let us handle it, your families wouldn't be in danger now!" Uranus bellowed.

"Uranus!" Neptune hissed, staring right into her eyes. That got her attention and Neptune nodded over her right shoulder. Uranus glanced over.

The local TV station was taping every word.

"Just great," muttered Uranus and headed north, toward the far end of the marsh and away from the TV camera. Neptune followed her, but so did the television reporter. Junko hung back, but she moved with them.

"Sailor Uranus!" the reporter called out. "Sailor Uranus!"

"Lady, if you don't . . .!" Uranus whirled on the woman. But she stood her ground.

"I think the public has a right to know what might be threatening their safety at this very moment," the reporter shot back, "just so they can take whatever precautions they can. Care to make a statement now?"

Uranus glared.

"This isn't for ratings," she persisted. "I know too much of my industry is skewed toward what will sell commercial time. But we also serve as an information line to the public when natural or man-made disaster threatens. I'd say this qualifies as the latter."

"Of course," Neptune spoke up, allowing Uranus to cool down. "The marsh was inhabited by a creature known as a nure-onna. You can look it up in any text on Japanese mythology. Now this creature is only dangerous because it's been falsely accused of attacking a local student, attacked, wounded and driven from its home. But it is dangerous. The public needs to stay off the streets until we can find and capture it."

"Exactly what does this creature look like?" the reporter asked. "What is it capable of?"

While Neptune explained the nure-onna to the television audience, Uranus eased over to Junko.

"Sorry you had to see that," Uranus said penitently. "Sometimes I lose my cool."

"You're just being you," Junko responded. "So, you and Neptune going to go looking for the monster?"

"Got to."

"Maybe the fire got it," Junko offered.

"Maybe," Uranus replied. "But in the state that thing was in, we have to be sure. Otherwise someone in this neighborhood is going to get attacked."

Junko looked down.

"I'm sorry. It's not just Kasumi's life at stake here," Uranus protested.

"I know," Junko replied, emotion clouding her voice. "But I just can't help thinking that this is going to mean losing Kasumi. And it's not fair; not to her."

"Yeah," Uranus mumbled. "Well . . ."

"Life isn't fair. I know," Junko said.

"Better watch it. You're going to end up as cynical as I am."

"Well, Mom did always say you were a bad influence," Junko joked half-heartedly.

* * *

"Think it got away?" Uranus asked softly.

She and Neptune were crouched in a tree across from the very north end of the marsh. Evening had come to the area. Junko had been sent home to wait for them. She protested vociferously, but in the end she gave in. The fire was out, leaving remnants of smoke and soot covering the street and the area.

No one was out. The fire department had left. The TV van had returned to the station. And none of the local residents or the students who lived off campus in the area felt safe outside. No one wanted to encounter "the monster"; not after the way Neptune had described it. And not after the TV station had shown artists renderings taken from classic texts. Aside from an occasional police car that went down the street and turned east, the two Senshi in the tree were the only living things in the area.

Aside, perhaps, from a very angry nure-onna.

"The mirror says it survived," Neptune responded just as softly. "So unless it's going to stay in that marsh among all of that smoke and ash, it's going to come out. And it's most likely going to come out on this end of the marsh."

"And it's going to be pissed," Uranus muttered. "And I can't really blame it." She shifted. "Maybe we should have called Dumpling and the crew in. We always think we can handle it by ourselves."

"We can handle things," Neptune maintained. "We're not incompetents."

"And how many times has it blown up in our faces?" Uranus asked. "I could probably call Makoto and get an exact count. Maybe we are a little too cocky."

"Do you want to call Serenity and the Senshi in?" Neptune challenged.

"I want this over," Uranus sighed. "I want that nure-onna neutralized. And I want Junko's friend found, alive and safe. That's what I want." She sighed again. "But when has it ever mattered what I want?"

Neptune looked at her with sympathy. She wanted to go over and press the woman's head to her breast and tell her that everything would work out.

But they had work to do.

With each moment, darkness fell a little further. And as the darkness grew, the neighborhood took on an eerie stillness. Neptune kept watch on the marsh obsessively. Uranus watched as well, but her thinking was troubled.

"Even the nocturnal animals are avoiding this place," Uranus commented. "They probably have more sense than we do."

"Their only duty is their own safety and the safety of their young," Neptune responded while still watching the marsh. "The price of being higher on the evolutionary chain."

"Yeah. Justice to them is surviving another day."

Uranus fell silent.

"When we were in there, were you going to let that thing go? Make a deal with it?"

"If it resolved the situation," Neptune replied. "If nothing else depended upon that creature surviving, I would have beheaded it myself with the mirror. It took a human life, that person's only crime being too much curiosity and not enough survival instinct. That shouldn't be tolerated." She sighed. "But it had a point about being encroached upon. I can't fault it for the way it reacted. And it was our best link to finding Nobumura-San. If forgiving the taking of one life meant the saving of another . . ." Neptune grew silent. "Maybe Serenity would have handled it better than we did. But it's easier to be right when you can do almost anything."

Movement caught the eye of Sailor Uranus. She brought her binoculars to bear. Neptune noticed immediately.

"Do you see something?" Neptune asked while keeping her gaze trained on the north end of the marsh.

"Some movement down the street," Uranus reported. "It's not the nure-onna. It's that local, Inoue - - the one I told you about, the one I talked to when I went running that first day?"

"The one who told you about the legend of Numachi No Kyuketsuki?" Neptune asked. "Why would he be out?"

"He's got a big bag with him," Uranus said. "Hell of a time to be throwing trash out. Some of these older folks are so set in their ways."

"I haven't seen a trace of the nure-onna," Neptune told her. "Unless it got past me, he should be safe. But it is a big risk." She smiled. "Reminds me of Dad. I've told you how he has to have the exact same breakfast on certain days without fail. It used to drive me insane when I cooked for him as a girl. If I deviated from it in the slightest, he got so irritated."

The two Senshi fell silent, watching and waiting for the nure-onna to appear.

"Maybe I should go down to the ground," Uranus proposed. "Scout around for it. Maybe try to draw it out."

"I don't particularly like that idea," Neptune said while still watching the marsh.

"It's good tactics," Uranus persisted. "Better than just sitting in this tree and waiting."

"I'm not questioning the tactics," Neptune replied. Uranus sensed the momentary fear in her mate and felt bad about even making the suggestion.

Suddenly a scream pierced the evening. It was a blood-curdling scream of pain and terror, of someone reacting to the touch of death itself.

Concluded in Chapter 12


	12. Monster

NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI  
Chapter 12: "Monster"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

The bellowing, high-pitched scream of terror that pierced the night hadn't had a chance to die down. Sailor Uranus was out of the tree in seconds and racing toward the sound, her Space Sword appearing in her hand. Sailor Neptune was right behind her, but never had the speed or reactions to keep up with Uranus at a full run. The Senshi saw a white tunic and blue skirt grow fainter and disappear into the dark of the evening and prayed that it wasn't the last sight of Uranus that she'd ever see.

Racing down the block, Uranus came to the home at the corner of the service road, the home of Hajime Inoue, the local she had spoken to her first morning in Niigata. A blue Honda Civic was parked in front of the home, its rear hatch open. Fifteen feet away, on the walk leading to the home was a dark bag. Uranus had first thought it was a garbage bag, but now that she was closer she saw it was made of a coarse, heavy linen. Those, though, were peripheral impressions that registered in her brain.

Her main focus was the owner of the home, locked in the tightly gripping coils of the nure-onna. His head lolled to one side as the creature sucked at his neck, blood and drool oozing down his shoulder. Eyes stared lifelessly into the night sky. Uranus moved forward and the blade of the Space Sword caught a street light and reflected it. The nure-onna looked up.

"You wished to know what I saw?" the creature snarled angrily, bloody rivulets dripping down from the corners of its mouth and razor sharp teeth glistening in the low light. "This! This is the human who committed the crime for which I was blamed! Because of him, my life is in shambles! He brought the wrath of humanity down upon me! His actions brought you foul Senshi to bear against me! His hand started the rock rolling down the hill, and because of that my home was burned and I am hunted! So I claim his life!"

The creature's coils slackened and the man's body slid out to the sidewalk. He sprawled awkwardly near his car, lifeless. Uranus heard Neptune running up, but her focus remained on the nure-onna.

"Now you have your answers, Senshi," the nure-onna snarled. "I will leave now. If you try to stop me, I will surely kill you as well."

"And do what?" demanded Uranus.

"What is it to you?"

"Everything. If you're going to find another remote place to live, then go with my apologies for what you went through," Uranus said. "If you're going to kill again . . ."

"I make no promises," the nure-onna hissed. "My warning stands."

The nure-onna turned to slither off. Uranus started forward. Alerted to movement, the nure-onna whirled and lunged at the Senshi.

"SUBMARINE REFLECTION!" Sailor Neptune cried out.

A crimson beam lanced out and grazed the creature's snake body. It turned slightly, grimacing in pain. The action occurred in a single moment.

That was the moment Sailor Uranus needed. She took three steps forward, leaped up at the creature and swung her sword. Her leap carried her over the creature and Uranus landed ten feet away, in the mouth of the service road, turning back anticipating a possible counterattack. Instead, she saw the nure-onna's head bounce on the sidewalk and into the street. It still had a look of shock on its face. As the snake body collapsed inertly onto the sidewalk, Neptune ran over to Uranus.

"Still a team," she smiled gratefully up at Uranus, pressing against her chest, a lock of green hair falling into her eyes.

"In every way there is," Uranus smiled back, sentiment making her eyes mist.

Allowing only a moment for sentiment and gratitude, Uranus and Neptune turned and went over to the large cloth bag on the sidewalk. Cutting open the tie at the neck of the bag, Uranus pulled it back. Inside was a woman, about twenty, with stringy black hair, porcelain skin that was dirty, and no clothing. When the bag was pulled away from her, she cringed, her arms coming over her head.

"No, please! No more!" she mumbled breathlessly, almost like a prayer against harm. "Please, no more! Please! No more, please!

"It's all right, Nobumura-San," Neptune said softly, trying to comfort her. But when her gloved hand touched the woman's shoulder, she flinched back.

"No more, no more!" she squealed in terror. "Please, no more! Please!"

Neptune looked up at Uranus in horror and found the expression reflected back at her. Her gaze returned to the cowering woman and she struggled to find some way to allay the woman's terror.

"I'll call the cops," Uranus said softly.

* * *

The University Station was represented in force at the scene. Six cars with officers were needed just to hold back the flood of on-lookers from the university and the neighborhood. They also held back the TV crew taping what they could. Kasumi Nobumura became hysterical when approached by two of the police station's female officers. She thrashed wildly and let out inhuman shrieks when the officers and a medic crew tried to put her on a gurney for transport to the hospital. Ultimately she was forcibly sedated in order to transport her.

Looking on were Uranus, Neptune and Detective Kinogura.

"The gods only know what he did to her," Kinogura mused. "So what do you think made him come out? Was he trying to move her because there was too much of a police presence in the area - - and you two as well?"

"Good a theory as any," grunted Uranus. "We'll never know for sure unless the doctors are able to help Nobumura-San."

"We were getting close to finding him," Neptune added. "Perhaps he was watching us, in between torturing that poor girl, and was afraid he'd be discovered."

"And they called Numachi No Kyuketsuki the monster," Uranus scowled. Neptune looked at her love and wondered if this was bringing back old, painful memories.

"In the business we're in, you'd think we'd be incapable of being shocked by seeing stuff like this," Kinogura sighed. "Maybe it's a good think we're not."

"Any clue why he abducted her?" Neptune asked.

"Not yet. Forensics and the detectives are still going through the house. It might have been just a crime of opportunity, or he may have been stalking her," Kinogura responded. "Preliminary findings are that he kept her in the basement. Burned fragments of her clothes were down there, along with restraints. Inoue doesn't have a record or any hint of any suspicious behavior. Outwardly he was just your typical quiet neighbor. But we'll continue to canvas the neighborhood."

"Did he have a destination in mind when he tried to move her?"

"He's got a summer cabin north of the city. We'll be sending a forensics team up there to see if any other missing person shows up. Statistics say Nobumura-San probably wouldn't have been his first." Kinogura glanced at Uranus. "I know you're angry that Nobumura-San wasn't found earlier. But she's alive. In cases like this, that's a better outcome than what could have happened."

"She's got to live with what happened to her for the rest of her life. I don't think that fact will impress her that much," muttered Uranus, "but you're welcome to tell her."

A forensics van pulled up and the body of the nure-onna was stuffed inside, no small feat considering there was fifty feet of snake body to load.

"So are we done with that thing now?" Kinogura asked.

"I'll call our expert to be certain," Neptune replied. "But my guess would be that we are."

Uranus started to head for the Reventon. Kinogura, though, reached out and stopped her.

"Sailor Uranus," he began. "Thank you. You and Sailor Neptune were a big help in this case. Both of these cases."

Uranus looked at him and her dark mood softened a little.

"It's what we do," she replied gently.

In the Reventon, Haruka drove while Michiru contacted Rei Hino on her Senshi Communicator.

"What you describe doesn't surprise me," Rei told them. "Nure-onna are quick to anger and hold grudges. You did the right thing. It would have killed again. They don't hold humans in very high regard."

"It won't resurrect, will it?" Michiru asked.

"Not on its own. I suppose a sorcerer or demon could resurrect it, if it chose to do so. But that's a very slim possibility. Where did they take it?"

"The police forensics squad have it for now. After they're finished with it, Niigata University has expressed an interest in studying the remains."

"I can already hear Ami booking a flight," joked Rei. That drew a smile from Michiru. "Well, I'm glad to hear that everything ended, well, as well as could be expected. I'll talk to you further when you get back to Tokyo. I'm kind of interested in hearing more about this one myself."

Rei signed off. Michiru glanced at Haruka. Her mate was still staring sullenly ahead. She reached over and touched Haruka's thigh.

"Sometimes all we can do is prevent a despicable situation from spiraling into tragedy," the green-haired artist said.

"Yeah," grunted Haruka. "I wish - - I wish I could have done more; been smarter, faster. Made more of a difference."

"We both do," Michiru said. "But it's over now."

"No, it's not."

Michiru glanced curiously at her.

"I still have to tell Junko what happened," Haruka said hoarsely.

* * *

Haruka and Michiru sat in the apartment Junko shared with Kasumi Nobumura and waited for Junko's return. The previous evening had been a swirling stew of emotions on Junko's part: disbelief, realization, horror and then seething anger, tempered only by the news that Kasumi had been found alive. Haruka had offered to stay with Junko at the apartment to help her get through this period in her life and the offer had been readily accepted.

Now they waited for Junko to return. She had gone to the hospital where Kasumi was being treated. Thinking back on the terrified emotional wreck they had witnessed the previous evening, both silently wondered how the reunion might go.

"You know, you don't have to stay," Haruka said suddenly.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Michiru asked, taken by surprise.

"No, of course not," bristled Haruka. "If I wanted to get rid of you, I'd tell you to get lost. I just figured you'd want to get back to that painting that guy commissioned from you."

"I'll decide when I need to get back," Michiru told her.

"Well, excuse me," muttered the sandy blonde.

"I would have thought you'd know by now that I just can't turn my inspiration on and off like a faucet," Michiru replied patiently. "After what I saw the last couple of days, I'm going to need a couple of days to get back into the mood to paint. Besides, Junko might need us both." She grew a wicked smile. "Or you might say something wrong and need me to wipe up the blood after she slaps you in the mouth."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Haruka grumbled. "She would slug me, too."

"I'll try to grab her if she cocks her fist," teased Michiru.

A key rattled in a door. The pair turned to find Junko. The girl was openly depressed and deep in thought.

"How did it go?" Michiru ventured.

"They let me visit," Junko stated distantly. "They thought a friendly face might help. I tried to talk to her." Her jaw clenched. "But she just lay there, curled up in a ball on the bed, mumbling the same thing over and over again: please, no more." Junko shuddered. "What did he do to her?"

"It's difficult to say," Michiru offered. "Humans can be capable of despicable acts that defy belief. But she's safe now, and perhaps one day she can get back to where she'd been."

"But why her? Why pick her? I keep asking myself that. Why Kasumi? She never did anything to anybody in her life. And then out of the blue, someone can just swoop in and destroy everything she was and everything she had and everything she was going to be? What kind of world is this that can do that to someone?"

"That's the world," Haruka said. "It's what Dumpling, um, Queen Serenity is trying to change. And it's what we do as her Senshi: try to change the world so stuff like that won't happen to innocent people like Nobumura-San. I may not always agree with her, but I realize that she's our best shot to do it. And I'm going to do everything I can to help her."

"We all have to," Michiru added, "or it won't work."

A decision seemed to form in Junko's mind. It was evident on her face. Michiru noticed it first and nodded to Haruka, who looked and saw it.

"You're right," Junko said. "That settles it."

"Settles what?" Haruka asked warily.

Junko looked down. "Haruka," she began, "please don't be mad at me. But even if you are, I have to do this." She took a steadying breath. "I'm not going to be a teacher."

"Did you flunk your final?" Haruka asked.

"No. No, I passed," Junko said. "I'll be getting my diploma in about a week. I'm not going to be a teacher - - because I've decided to be a police officer."

"Junko, have you thought this through?" Michiru asked.

"Yeah, all the way home after seeing Kasumi. And what you two just said now tells me I'm right. Stuff like this can happen to anyone, right out of the blue. It doesn't matter if you're good or bad, young or old, man or woman, whatever. It's out there, waiting to happen. And Queen Serenity is trying to change that. And you two and the other Senshi are helping her."

Finally Junko looked up and locked eyes with Haruka.

"I want to help, too," she declared. "I can't be a Senshi, no matter how much I want to. So I'll just have to be the next best thing. Because I want to be part of preventing what happened to Kasumi from happening to someone else."

"It's a noble goal," Michiru said. "But more often than not, we're dealing with what's already happened rather than preventing it from happening. If this is what you choose to do, go into it with your eyes open."

"Yeah, I understand," Junko nodded. "But I still need to do this." She glanced back at Haruka anxiously. Haruka rose from the sofa.

"If this is what you want to do," Haruka said, putting her hand on Junko's shoulder, "then do it. Don't let anybody tell you 'no'."

"You're not mad?"

"Hell no. If you'd jumped into your bed and pulled the covers over your head, then I'd be mad, because you'd be giving up. I won't be mad if you try and fail; only if you don't try."

"Who says I'm going to fail?" challenged Junko. Haruka grinned.

"You tell 'em," Haruka nodded.

"I just need two things from you, Haruka," Junko grew anxious again. "I need someone to whip me into shape for the police academy. Think you could help me train?"

"Sounds right up my alley," nodded Haruka. "You're going to have to move back to Tokyo, though. I'm not going to commute."

"No prob," she grinned. Then she weakened. "Can you also help me . . . break it to Dad? I don't think he's going to like any of this."

"I've got your back," Haruka said with a smile of familiarity. "I don't know how much good I'll do you, but I've got your back."

Concluded


End file.
